By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA-The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, yesterday, reserved judgment on the petition seeking to nullify the April 16 presidential election that brought President Goodluck Jonathan and his Vice, Namadi Sambo, to power.

A 5-man panel of justices of the appellate court adjourned judgment on the petition which was filed by the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, sine-die shortly after all the parties in the suit, yesterday adopted their written arguments for and against the petition.

Going by the express provision of section 134 of the Electoral Act, as amended, the tribunal now has fourteen days to deliver the reserved judgment, considering that it is precisely 165 days since the opposition party launched its bid to sack President Jonathan from office through the instrumentality of the law.

Though the said section of the Electoral Act, gives the tribunal 180 days (6 months) to dispense justice on the matter, section 140 (1) of the same Act, imbues it with the statutory powers to nullify the April 16 presidential election, should it substantiate allegations that it was rigged in favour of any of the candidates that participated in the election.

The respondents described the contention of the petitioner as an academic exercise, even as INEC yesterday re-affirmed President Jonathan as the bona-fide winner of the April 16 contest, insisting that he emerged through a legally credible process.