The President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who is the second respondent in the election petition case filed by the leader and flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama has responded to the petition with his answer.
John Mahama, the flagbearer of the NDC is praying the apex court to annul the declaration of Nana Akufo-Addo as the President and the winner of the December 7th, 2020 General Elections.
The President in his answer to the NDC petition avers , the petition lacks substance, and rather a “face saving” attempt by Former President Mahama
He has therefore prayed the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition in its entirety as it lacks merit and borne out of unfounded imagination.
“The instant action is a ruse and face saving gimmick by the petitioner, after the petitioner and many senior members of the NDC party had prematurely claimed outright victory in the election, only to be badly exposed by results of the 1st respondent (EC), corroborated by all media houses of note in the country as well as many independent local and international observers,” President Akufo-Addo argued.
The 12 page response was filed on behalf of the President by Akufo-Addo, Prempeh, and Co, a law firm he founded.
It argues that the petitioner does not in any way question the validity and credibility of the election held through the 38,622 polling stations across the country.
The President further posits that allegations of vote padding involving some 6622 votes as empty and insignificant to materially affect the outcome of the election.
The firm noted that Mr. Mahama’s petition failed to disclose how many votes he should have obtained except pointing out that none of the candidates got more than 50% of the votes cast.
The petition is then described as “merely conjectural and borne out of unfounded imagination”.
In answers filed at the Supreme Court Registry Saturday, January 9, 2021, the second respondent described the petition as one that lacks merit, incompetent and does not raise any reasonable cause of action.
The President further attacks the substance of the petition, raising a preliminary legal objection, arguing that the petition does not even meet the requirement of Article 64(1) of the 1992 Constitution.
It is the case of the President that the petition does not allege infraction in any of the election conducted at the 38,622 polling stations and 311 special voting centres.
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