Lead Counsel for former President John Mahama, Tsatsu Tsikata, was again not in court when hearing commenced at the Supreme Court forcing Tony Lithur to stand in and introduced himself as counsel for the petitioner.

All other lawyers, Justin Amenuvor with Somuah Asamoah for 1st Respondent; and Akoto Ampaw with Frank Davies, Kwaku Asirifi and Yaw Oppong for 2nd Respondent were in court.

The Petitioner was represented by the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo. The 1st Respondent was represented by the Electoral Commission Chairperson, Mrs Jean Mensa, whilst 2nd Respondent was represented by 2020 New Patriotic Party Campaign Manager, Peter Mac Manu.

Mr Lithur pleaded with the court for the matter to be temporarily suspended in order for his colleague Mr Tsikata to come to court.

However, in a sharp response the court indicated that the official time for hearing was 9:30am and that all processes filed originated from the law firm of Mr Lithur and he has been the one signing all of them, hence he was competent to deal with the matter.

The court ordered the NDC Presidential Candidate, John Mahama to file his witness statement by close of Wednesday, 27th January, 2021. Hearing has been adjourned to Thursday, 28th January, 2021.

The Judges today express frustration over the failure of the NDC lawyers to file there witness statement which they ordered all parties in the case to file.

The court accordingly cautioned them that should they fail again to file by the deadline, it will invoke its powers and dismiss the entire petition.