Lawyers for the New Patriotic Party (NPP’s) Presidential Candidate, Nana Akufo Addo and the two other petitioners; Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey and Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, have decided against pursuing an objection in relation to the composition of the Supreme Court Judges empanelled to sit on the motion filed by the NDC to be joined in the controversial presidential election petition against the Electoral Commission and President John Mahama.
The legal team, in a letter to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, stated that the decision to pull out is to allow for the early hearing of the substantive case.
Lead counsel, Philip Addison and his team of lawyers were asked to present a formal petition objecting to one of the judges to sit on the case after their request for an in-camera hearing was turned down by Justice William Atuguba who asked the lawyers to file a motion.
The legal team had on Thursday objected to the inclusion of an unnamed member of the Supreme Court panel, and were yet to also disclose the reason behind their objection.
Although the NPP never disclosed the name of the judge, the NDC claimed their opponents were opposed to Justice William Atuguba’s inclusion on the panel.
However, on Friday, in a letter addressed to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, the NPP’s legal team challenging the validity of the results of the 2012 presidential elections rescinded their decision.
According to the lawyers, their sudden volte-face is to make way for an expeditious determination of the petition.
“We have upon consideration decided not to pursue the matter in order to facilitate an expeditious determination of the petition….This will in addition ensure an early hearing of the application for joinder….We would therefore be obliged if the application for joinder could be fixed for an early hearing.”
