Former president John Dramani Mahama is using the ongoing election petition to remain relevant in the NDC and in the public space so as to contest in the next presidential polls.

This is the view of former information minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who was addressing the media after day three of the petition hearing at the Supreme Court.

“We are of the view that these are just efforts to delay what C.I. 99 sets out clearly, that there must be justice and it must be done expeditiously. Nobody is short circuiting the process.

“They are looking for a media spectacle so that Mr Mahama can remain very relevant in the NDC and in the public space and run again in 2024. That is all they are looking for,” he said, in response to why the petitioners will want a protracted process.

In court today, the judges gave directions on pre-trial processes and set a date, January 26, for hearing of the petition. Lawyers for the Electoral Commission and president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo agreed with the court even as lawyers for the petitioners disagreed with the court.

If Mahama runs in 2024, it would be his fourth shot at the high office. He won on first attempt in 2012 but has lost twice – in 2016 and 2020 – to the sitting president.

Akufo-Addo contested Mahama’s 2012 victory unsuccessfully. Mahama conceded after the 2016 vote but is in court with the 2020 outcome arguing that the president was not duly elected.