Election petition: I was NDC’s best 'foot' – Tsatsu

Lead counsel for the NDC in the 2012 election petition trial, Tsatsu Tsikata, has revealed that the ruling party settled on him among a pool of other “brilliant lawyers” because he appeared to be their best “foot” at the time.

“I think the simple reality was that the NDC wanted to put its best foot forward, and they invited a lot of other very experienced guys but I wouldn’t say without me the job couldn’t have been done," he told Accra-based Radio Gold.

The former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) led the team of lawyers that represented the NDC in the landmark case, which confirmed the legitimacy of President John Mahama.

Nana Akufo-Addo, together with his running mate in the 2012 presidential election, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and the party’s Chairman at the time, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, challenged the results of the December presidential election on grounds that there were too many irregularities that marred the sanctity and integrity of the final results declared by the country’s Electoral Commission.

They prayed the West African country’s highest court to nullify the results. A nine-member panel of Justices, led by William Atuguba, however, upheld the victory of John Mahama, after the long legal battle.