The lead counsel for the petitioners in the 2012 election challenge, Philip Addison says he was surprised the then opposition leader, Nana Akufo-Addo chose him to head the legal team that represented the party in the landmark case.
In what appears to be his first interview after the 8-month-long litigation, Addison said he was absent in the meeting that decided on him as leader of the over 10 – member legal team.
“The thing is, I was absent in the meeting that settled on me as the leader of the legal team and when I was told, I was really surprised,” he told private radio station, Joy FM.
According to him, the party had decided to choose very capable hands for the job in order to secure victory.
“I had heard that very experienced people will be chosen for the job and all along I knew I had experience but never thought I would be chosen so when I was told of the decision, I drove to Akufo-Addo’s house for confirmation.
“And after the confirmation, I had 24 hours to decide on the kind of case we had, and I knew that we had a good case,” he added.
The commercial lawyer described the ruling by the nine-member panel that affirmed the legitimacy of President John Mahama as unfair. He said he, as well as the other members of the legal team felt cheated by the verdict of the court.
August 29, 2014 marks exactly a year since the case was adjudged by Ghana’s Supreme Court.
