A Law lecturer at the University of Ghana Law School, Dr. Raymond Atuguba says it would be illegal for the Nana Akufo-Addo to concede defeat. “If to today, on the pure construction of the law, Nana Addo concedes without the counting and declaration of the Tain result, we will be violating the Constitution,” he said. Speaking on Joy FM’s Current Affairs Programme, Front Page, Dr. Atuguba said although from the nationalistic political point of view, it would be prudent for Nana Addo to concede, the Constitution does not support that position. Quoting from the Constitution, he said Article 63, clause 3, says that one cannot be a president of Ghana unless one can establish that one got 50 per cent of valid votes cast and at least one more vote. He maintained that even if Nana Addo were to concede, the election at Tain would have to be conducted and results declared. For him, results of the Tain Constituency must be used in calculating whether a particular candidate obtained the required number of votes to win the presidency. Dr. Atuguba emphasised there was no way a winner could have been announced without the Tain election because that result would have excluded Tain. Otherwise any Ghanaian, he said can one day “go to the Supreme Court under Article 64 of the Constitution and establish, using the voter tally of Tain, that (the president) has not shown that he obtained more than 50 per cent of” registered voters. The Law Lecturer said in the event that Nana Addo concedes, it will not give Prof. Mills automatic win. He said it is in the interest of the NDC and its flag-bearer Prof. John Evans Atta Mills to have the Tain election conducted and results declared before he enters into the Jubilee House. Commenting on the decision of the NPP to boycott the Tain elections, Dr. Atuguba said under the Constitution, nobody can be forced to exercise a right. Although supporters of the NPP in the constituency have a right to vote, if they choose not to exercise that, nobody can force them. Asked whether their boycott does not question the validity of the election, he said a private citizen cannot invalidate an election in the country. Story by Malik Abass Daabu