Some recent actions and comments of Lawyer Phillip Addison seem to suggest that he is doing exactly the reverse of what he was hired to do for the party, that is, reclaim power from the NDC. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) decided to challenge the results of the 2012 elections in which President John Dramani Mahama was declared the winner.
Consequently, the flagbearer of the party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo- Addo, his running mate , Dr Mahmoud Bawumia and the party’s former chairman, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey filed a suit at the Supreme Court to overturn the results of the elections as announced by the then Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan.
The man chosen to help the NPP reclaim power from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was one Lawyer Phillip Addison, a name totally unfamiliar in Ghana’s political circles then. The choice of lawyer Addison as the Lead Counsel for the Elephant party raised intense misgivings among party followers because many legal brains in the party that were tipped to have spearheaded the legal tussle were sidestepped.
Those fears widely expressed could however not stand the tests of time mainly due to the sterling legal qualities displayed by Lawyer Addison and his team during proceedings of the landmark election petition. Sooner than later , the name ‘Philip Addison’ became a household name commonly found on the lips of people who did not even subscribe to the N.P.P.
He was hailed, revered and adored by many party supporters even though the plaintiffs grudgingly lost the case. Thus, from nowhere, ‘PHILLIP ADDISON’ automatically became an integral member of the Dankwa- Busia family without question. So, one can say he moved from level ‘ZERO’ to a ‘HERO’.
Ordinarily, one would have had to go through some stringent laid down structures before attaining the status that was bestowed on him almost on a silver platter. But, instead of showing appreciation and gratitude to the N.P.P. family for the honour done him, Phillip Addison, the man who was chosen to boost the party’s chances of reclaiming power is rather frantically pushing the party deep into the gully after his failed bid to represent the NPP in the Klottey Korley Constituency in the upcoming 2016 elections.
The much-vaunted Lawyer Addison is reported to have accused the Mr Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyepong , the national Chairman and General Secretary of the N.P.P. respectively of scheming to scuttle Nana Akuffo Addo’s chances of winning the 2016 presidential elections, a claim he could not substantiate when pushed to provide evidence for his comments.
As if that was not enough, he reportedly went on to equate the N.P.P. to the National Democratic Congress (N.D.C.) as far as election rigging is concerned and indicated that he regrets leading such a party in an election related case at the Supreme Court. Media reports further has it that he ordered his supporters to disrupt the elections organized by the party to elect a candidate for the Klottey Korley Constituency in 2016 elections because he disagreed with the date for the elections.
This is extremely incredible! Currently he is threatening a legal showdown with the party if the result of the Klotey Korley Constituency in which Nii Noi Nortey emerged victorious is not nullified; a very person brought to fight for the party now turns his arsenals against the party.
Paradoxically, the very person who was flown down to help the NPP wrest power from the NDC, a party perceived by the NPP as masters in election fraud has eventually succeeded in branding them same. Obviously his comments and actions are going to add up to the political ‘weapon store’ of the NDC against the NPP in the 2016 elections.
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