Your theatrics are superfluous – Atuguba tells Bawumia

The President of the nine panel judge hearing the election petition case, Justice William Atuguba has warned Dr. Mahmoud Bawumia to be straight forward in answering questions and avoid the theatrics.

The warning followed a retort from Dr Bawumia-the second petitioner in the case to the EC’s lawyer, Dr. Quarshie Idun during cross-examination of the 2012 vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as far as the results of the 2012 elections were declared.

Dr. Bawumia, the chief witness in the election petition case has been described by some NDC lawyers as being a bit evasive on his answers and rather resorting long and winding explanations.

In response to a question posed by Counsel Quarshie-Idun whether the petitioners were provided with voters register in November 2012; Bawumia answers in the affirmative and attempts to explain further.

But Justice Atuguba intervenes and tells Dr. Bawumia that “your theatricals are superfluous” adding “give a direct answer to his questions that all”.

The NPP’s 2012 Presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo (first respondent), together with Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and the party’s national chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey is in court challenging the validity of the election results as declared by the country’s electoral commission after the December 7 and 8 general elections.

The petitioners argue that the elections were fraught with unpardonable flaws which must not be left uninvestigated.

They accuse the incumbent party, National Democratic Congress (NDC) of conspiring with the EC to rig the elections for President John Mahama. They are therefore praying the court to set aside and nullify the EC’s results which declared President Mahama as winner of the presidential poll.

They want the court to annul 4,670,504 of the valid votes cast during the election at 11,916 polling stations where they claim a lot of anomalies occurred.