PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari says his administration will do everything possible to ensure that Nigeria conducts free, fair and peaceful elections in 2019.

Speaking on Tuesday at the 20th anniversary celebration of the International Criminal Court (ICC), in Hague, The Netherlands, Buhari said all hands are on deck to prevent a recurrence of tragic incidents that characterized the 2011 elections.

“Let me intimate you that Nigeria is preparing to conduct general elections in 2019,”he said. Contrary to the tragic incidents that characterized the 2011 general elections in Nigeria which necessitated preliminary investigations by the International Criminal Court, I assure you that all hands are on deck to prevent any recurrence of such tragic incidents.

“We shall do everything possible to ensure that Nigeria witnesses the conduct of free, fair and peaceful elections in 2019.”

In 2015, the Northern Coalition for Democracy and Justice (NCDJ) filed a case at ICC against President Buhari who was then the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over his alleged role in 2011 post-election violence.

The President said that Nigeria has cooperated and supported the Court at all times.

“This, we have demonstrated by our full and transparent cooperation on matters on which we are being investigated and also in our several country statements at the sessions of the Court.”

He explained that Nigeria’s “cooperation with the Court is borne out of its strong belief in the respect for the rule of law and human rights, and in firm commitment to the sanctity of fundamental freedoms at international and domestic levels, as ingrained in the objectives for establishing the Court.”

Buhari said that the Court has given hope for justice to so many by demanding strict adherence to the rules of international humanitarian laws.

This, he said, has been carried out in addition to preventing impunity, promoting adherence and respect for the rule of law and fundamental freedoms worldwide and to punishing those in leadership positions responsible for the most appalling crimes and atrocities.

The ICC, according to Buhari,  is now needed more than ever, in ways that were unforeseeable to its founders.

He said that the Court might have been created at a time of optimism that it would not need to be utilised frequently but unfortunately, the increase in international crimes has only increased the Court’s relevance.