A Chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in Abia State, Dr. David Onuoha-Bourdex, has told the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to bear in mind that the four years mandate given to them is not eternity.

Dr. Onuoha-Bourdex specifically told the Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara to use the four weeks recess to resolve all the impasse so that they will hit the ground running when they resume for plenary on July 21.

In a statement in Abuja Wednesday, he noted that the work before the Eighth National Assembly was enormous and that allowing the politics of who becomes what in the two chambers to linger would disappoint Nigerians who look forward to a new and better way of doing things in the country.

He advised that instead of dashing the expectations of the masses by fighting over issues of personal positions, they should settle down to review the activities of the preceding assembly with a view to learning from the mistakes and charting a path for progressive change.

Onuoha-Bourdex who was the Senatorial candidate of APGA for Abia North in the March 28 election, urged the two chambers to come up with the modalities in some critical areas that require immediate attention for the strengthening of the Nigeria federation especially the electoral system.

According to him, "Nigerians were stunned few months ago when a total of 48 bills were passed by the Seventh NASS in a space of two days.

"Now the present NASS has begun with a timewasting recrimination over such a simple matter as the election of floor functionaries. The two chambers of the National Assembly should be reminded that four years is not eternity, so that they do not fall into similar temptation of having to rush legislations.

"It is my belief that one critical area the National Assembly should take time and work on is the strengthening of our electoral system. A review of the recent general election shows that the Electoral Act needs to be revised to take into consideration the issue of use of Permanent Voters Cards and Card Readers during elections.

"Again while the electoral act stipulated a 180 day period for the completion of action on election petitions at the tribunals, I feel that the electoral act should touch on what happens to victims and beneficiaries of disputed elections during the pendency of the litigation.

"I have humbly submitted that beneficiaries of disputed elections should be placed on half of the salaries and allowances due to members."

He said as a victim of electoral manipulation he knew how it hurts to be robbed of victory while the beneficiary of the electoral malfeasance sits with comfort in the national assembly with a stolen mandate.

He explained that the idea behind keeping half salary and allowances to legislators with electoral disputes was to ensure that if the verdict of the petition did not favour the candidate that was returned in error he/she should forfeit the other half since it was not usually easy to get a sacked member to refund salaries and allowances already paid.

"I believe this should be part of the ongoing efforts to curtail election rigging and fight official corruption where people earn unmerited income without restitution to the state," he stated.

The APGA stalwart expressed the hope that the present leadership of the National Assembly would do better if it learns to set timelines for legislative business.