President Akufo-Addo says he is happy his main opponent in the December 7, 2020, presidential election, John Dramani Mahama who has petitioned the Supreme Court over the verdict.

He explained that the action of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate will bring an end to weeks of protest by supporters of the party since he was declared President-elect by Electoral Commission Chair, Jean Mensa.

Speaking in parliament during his final State of the Nation Address to end his first term of office, President Akufo-Addo said he was however convinced the election was organised in a free and fair manner despite the allegations raised by Mr. Mahama and the NDC.

"I recognise that my main opponent in the election, former President John Mahama, has gone to the Supreme Court to seek its intervention, and grant reliefs that he believes were compromised in the conduct of the elections.

"It is good for the nation that, in the end, he chose the legal path, instead of the pockets of violence that have attended the rejection of the results by his party in the period after the elections," he said.

President Akufo-Addo also used the platform to urge Ghanaians to make a "deliberate decision to invest in the rule of law and uphold the integrity of the institutions of state, so that no person or group of persons take the law into their own hands with impunity."

His comment follows a decision by the NDC’s flagbearer, John Mahama, on Wednesday, December 30, 2020, to file a petition at the Supreme Court to challenge the outcome of the December 7, 2020, presidential elections.

This was after series of protest by supporters of the party over alleged voter fraud and irregularities in the polls.

In a statement issued after the filing of the suit, the NDC had said the petition details “serious violations of the 1992 Constitution by the Electoral Commission and its Chairperson and Returning Officer for the Presidential Election, Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa in the conduct of their constitutional and legal responsibility.”

Mr. Mahama is therefore seeking a declaration from the Supreme Court to the effect that, “the purported declaration of the results of the 2020 Presidential Election on the 9th day of December 2020 is unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.”

The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo won the election with 51.3 percent of the vote while Mr. Mahama followed with 47.7 percent of valid votes cast.

However, the NDC has refused to accept the results because of its claims of malfeasance in the polls.