Stephen Atubiga Humbled At Supreme Court

Stephen Atubiga, the man who only last week boldly told the world he and the ruling National Democratic Congress would not accept the verdict of the Supreme Court if it decides its hearing of the present election petition in favour of opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo, was all pleading and sorry when he appeared before the court Tuesday. Barely could the sweating Atubiga raise his head as Justices Baffoe-Bonnie and William Atuguba probed him and the claims he had made on Asempa FM, which he now admits were clearly irresponsible and should never have been uttered. Repeatedly members of the bench asked Atubiga to repeat what he had said on radio, and on each occasion he begged for forgiveness, begging profusely that upon sober reflection he felt ashamed even to repeat same. He told the court Tuesday that he was taking full responsibility of his irresponsible statement and prayed the court to let him �walk� in order to sensitize members of the ruling NDC to be cautious in their utterances. He said, �I apologise for my irresponsible statement. I think it will not happen again. I started apologizing way before I got the summon. I�m responsible for my statement and it was irresponsible of me. Give me a second chance. There is no excuse for my mistakes. I take full responsibility for my irresponsible actions. From the bottom of my heart I really apologise for my actions.� However, President of the nine-member bench, Justice William Atuguba expressed surprise that �a gentleman in suit� like Mr Atubiga could make �such statements.� He said, �I believe you are fairly well educated to know that that we are not here by accident but we are here because the state has constituted us into a court. And not just an ordinary court but the Supreme Court of Ghana where everybody who has a dispute with his or her neighbor is entitled to come and you say that even if we make pronouncements you will not respect it�. This is a recipe for disaster in this country.� Justice Atuguba acknowledged Mr Atubiga�s earlier submissions and apologises when the court initially summoned him last week Thursday. He said, �I�m particularly happy you started apologizing over the weekend. Meaning that you have come to the realization that the statement were in bad faith.� He further drew the attention of politicians to take a cue from Mr Atubiga�s humble deportment. �The way u r couched in this court I believe that all the politicians here will take a cue from your posture. It appears when you are on your radio discussions, different blood levels flow through you and you make utterances which you should not have been made in the first place. Take a cue from the events of last week when Sammy Awuku was here and when Steven Atubiga has made an appearance before us. I believe that we are not out to haunt anybody but we want sanity to prevail in the society. I believe that you should all take a cue and guard and guide your words before you utter them,� Justice Atuguba counselled. Justice Baffoe-Bonnie, however, wanted Mr Atubiga to repeat exactly what he said when he was on Asempa FM. He probed further wanting to know if Mr Atubiga was apologising because of the words he used or because his utterances were not suitable to be repeated in the presence of the justices. Mr Atubiga humbly apologised again, adding that, �My Lord I�ve prayed to God that those words should never come out of my mouth anymore and I humbly stand in front of you my Lords�I am apologizing because I have acted irresponsibly. I am a father and a husband and I have to live an example for my kids.� Sounding irritated, the Judge further addressed Mr Atubiga as a �mere� person who �has no guts to make those statements.� �When you made those statements what came into your head. Seriously�You standing there, you, a mere you�We are sitting on a matter that touches on the governance of this country and a mere you stands out there and before your cronies tell the whole world that whatever decision comes out of this court you will not obey them. Now look at you, look at you,� he addressed him. He further reminded the public that whatever decision the court made applied to everybody and that irrespective of what remarks were passed about the court, in an attempt to influence the court�s decision, there would be a judgment one way or the other and it did not matter where the axe fell.