General News of Wednesday, 10 February 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Election Petition: Mahama knows his case is weak – Lawyer

Fatimatu Abubakari, Member of Akufo-Addo's legal team in the Election Petition play videoFatimatu Abubakari, Member of Akufo-Addo's legal team in the Election Petition

A member of the legal team for the 2nd Respondent [Nana Akufo-Addo] in the Election Petition hearing has said the Petitioner [John Dramani Mahama] is aware he has so far presented a weak case at the Supreme Court.

Legal practitioner, Fatimatu Abubakari, explained that arguments and witnesses presented by Counsel for John Dramani Mahama have not been able to adduce enough evidence to establish their case.

She was making reference to the objection raised by Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata praying the apex court to strike out an application by the 1st and 2nd Respondents to present their witness statement.

Speaking to GhanaWeb in an interview Fatimatu Abubakari noted, “We’ve realized that they have not been able to adduce enough evidence to establish that nobody won the election, that the declaration was in breach of Article 63 clause 3, that was vote padding which were enough to overturn the outcome of the election or any of the other reliefs that they sought.”

Based on the above arguments, she stated that there was no need for the respondents to stand in the witness box to “punch additional holes in your case” adding that the Petitioner [John Mahama] should be happy her side withdrew their statement.

“So it is for the Petitioner to be excited that the respondents are not even willing to get in the box because they should have confidence in their own case and believe that they have made a strong case for the court to grant them the reliefs but as it appears they know that their case is weak”. She told GhanaWeb.