By Nana Akua Tweneboah-Koduah
May 23, 2013
Pictures they say have powerful effects and therefore do not lie. Mr Philip Addison, the lead counsel for the NPP in the on-going Supreme Court challenge of the 2012 Presidential Election results looked stunned, dazed, dejected, annoyed, confused, jumpy and extremely worried when the court proceedings for Wednesday May 22 came to a close at the courthouse.
The situation was so bad that when everybody else had left the courtroom at the end of the proceedings and the GTV reporter had interviewed both the spokespersons of the respondents and petitioners, stunned Mr Addison will not leave the courtroom. He was so disorganized that he was seen sitting quietly in the courtroom and perhaps licking his wounds following the series of setbacks he received in the courtroom.
You will not miss Mr Addison’s exuberance in court. The man known for raising tons of objections got the tables turned on him in court when he sought to re-examine his star witness Dr Mahamadu Bawumia.
Mr Addison, who perhaps did not know what was in store for him, went to the courtroom in his usual pomposity and sought to use the limited window of opportunity by way of re-examination to help Bawumia to wiggle himself out of the damage that has been caused to him during his cross-examination by the respondents.
But Philip Addison got hit with a fierce resistance from the lawyers of the respondents who objected to all the eight (8) questions that he asked. The resistance was so intense that in the end the justices sided with the respondents and sustained six (6) of the objections.
It was a telling blow and major setback to the petitioners who saw three of their “prized” allegations going up in smoke. Chiefly among the issues thrown away were the famous CD-ROM, Dr Bawumia’s so-called analysis and his reclassification of allegations.
We have not forgotten that already the NPP under severe siege by the respondents have abandoned their padding and deductions of votes’ allegation. Their allegation involving STL has also gone up in smoke whilst their issue on the non-signature of presiding officers have also become a non-starter.
Therefore, the series of impediments suffered by Philip Addison was too much to bear because it puts serious doubts on the case he has been pursuing relentlessly.
The obstacles suffered by the NPP and the long faces of their multiple lawyers who troop daily to the courthouse to be captured by the cameras were so bad. So bad that Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the man who is seeking to be president through the courtroom did not even wait for the announcer to ask people in the courtroom to rise.
Nana Akufo-Addo was up on his feet some thirty seconds before the court was asked to rise, ready to leave the courtroom and go hide somewhere to lick his wounds.
Dr Bawumia who has been goaded on by the NPP and falsely believe that his jabs instead of the answers he provide to questions would be taken into account by the justices sat in court and virtually did nothing apart from licking his mouth.
It is the most humiliating thing to go for re-examination by your lawyer and never got the chance to answer just one question. Bawumia was not allowed by the respondents to answer any question posed by Philip Addison and this totally confused him since he does not know what court proceedings are.
Philip Addison was indeed stunned and judging by the way he sat in the courtroom when everybody else was gone, I bet you that Philip may have met his Ethiopian Eunuch at the courtroom.
nakuakoduah@yahoo.com
