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President John Dramani Mahama has reaffirmed that he was indeed surprised to learn the opposition the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was preparing to contest the validity of the 2012 general elections, in which he was declared President. According to him, he initially thought it was a hoax because it was unthinkable anyone would attempt to challenge the outcome of the last elections giving the level of freeness and fairness of the polls. ��I was surprised the NPP went to court. I thought it was joke because by far, this was the cleanest and fairest elections we have had in the country,� the President claimed. He made this remarks during the media interaction to mark his first year in office christened, �One Year Of Responsible, Transparent And Accountable Governance� held at the Flag Staff House on Tuesday. President Mahama�s assertions was in reaction to a question on how his response to the news that the NPP was getting ready to challenge the validity of the 2012 polls and by extension, the legitimacy as President. The biggest opposition party dragged the Electoral Commission (EC) and the President to the apex court of Ghana, to point out some irregularities and inconsistencies that supposedly characterized the 2012 election. The Supreme Court legal battle dragged on for a little over eight months after which the case of the petitioners, namely; Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Jake Otanka Obetsebi Lamptey was thrown out. President Mahama told the media that indeed he was astounded to hear the NPP were really going to challenge the outcome of the elections since according to him, the elections were free and fair.