I Will Accept Supreme Court verdict- Mahama

After a long silence, President John Mahama has finally spoken about the ongoing election petition in the Supreme Court challenging his mandate as the winner in the December 2012 presidential election, saying he will accept whatever verdict the apex court hands to him.

He gave this assurance yesterday when the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs paid a courtesy call on him at his new office in the Flagstaff House.

The Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, who led the chiefs to the new seat of government, called on all parties to accept the Supreme Court’s verdict.

It is not unclear why President Mahama has taken so long to voice his position on the current legal tussle challenging his presidential mandate.

The President, since December 28, 2012, has remained relatively silent on his reaction to a potential Supreme Court verdict.

His opponent, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) contesting the outcome of the elections in court, stated explicitly that he would accept whatever verdict the Supreme Court gave.

The NPP, on December 28, 2012, dragged the Electoral Commission, and the party that was declared winner in the presidential polls, and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), to court for what it believes was a massive manipulation of election result in favor of the NDC.

So far, the NPP has compiled electoral irregularities in over 11,000 out of the 26,000 polling station that the elections were contested in. In an election petition filled at the Supreme Court, the NPP is seeking the Supreme Court to overturn the mandate of the NDC’s John Mahama, but the NDC and the Electoral Commission have filed counter responses, saying there was nothing wrong with the election result.

Even though the NPP said it had cast-iron evidence that would nail the Electoral Commission and the NDC, the opposition party’s flagbearer- Nana Akufo Addo said he would gracefully accept the court’s ruling, whether it favored him or not.

But while the opposition leader made his stance clear, President Mahama virtually kept his intention close to his chest until yesterday.

During yesterday’s meeting with the chiefs, the President was quoted as saying that he would ‘tame’ his party supporters who insulted the opposition NPP, particularly in its quest for justice.

President Mahama challenged the chiefs and other stakeholders to name and shame party leaders who subjected their opponents, including him, to needless insults.

By Raphael Ofori-Adeniran

Posted by admin on Feb 19 2013. Filed under African News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry