Election petition verdict was "unfair" – Addison

Lead Counsel for the petitioners in last year’s election results challenge, Philip Addison, has broken his year-long media silence on the case and said the verdict of the nine-member panel, presided over by Justice William Atuguba, was “unfair”.

Addison said he, as well as the other members of the legal team that represented the petitioners, was so confident of victory in the matter and so felt cheated when the Court upheld the victory of John Mahama on August 29, 2013.

In his first ever Radio interview concerning the case, the father of two said Thursday that there was never a moment during the 8-month-long hearing that he felt the legal team was pursuing a lost case, since they had a lot of evidence to prove that the main opposition candidate in 2012 election, Nana Akufo-Addo, was robbed of deserved victory in the presidential poll.

Friday August 29 marks exactly a year since the Court pronounced on the case. Akufo-Addo, and co-petitioners Dr Mahamudu Bawumia (Running Mate) and the party’s Chairman at the time, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, argued that there were many irregularities that marred the sanctity and integrity of the 2012 presidential poll and thus prayed the highest Court of the land to declare the results null and void and remedy the resultant declaration of Mahama as winner of the polls.

President Mahama, the Electoral Commission and its Chairman were the Defendants. They argued to the contrary. Addison, who broke his silence on the eve of the first year anniversary of the Court verdict, told Joy FM’s Drive Time Host, Lexis Bill, Thursday, on Personality Profile that he was surprised he was even chosen by Akufo-Addo to lead the legal team.

According to him, it had always been thought within the party that a very senior Lawyer was to lead the legal onslaught, and so was a bit surprised when the news got to him barely 24 hours before the first appearance in court, that he would lead the team.