EXTRA: I prefer to be called ‘servant of the people’ — not politician, says lawmaker

Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, deputy chief whip of the house of representatives, says she prefers to be called “servant of the people” because she is not a “conventional politician”.

In a chat on Tuesday with journalists in Abuja, Onyejeocha said the average politician is seen as someone who steals or lies.

The lawmaker said she has contributed to the progress of her people right from the time she was a commissioner in Abia state.

“One striking thing is that I’m not a conventional politician, because the term ‘politician’ has come to connote somebody who steals, lies, is cunning etc.,” she said.

“So, it makes me sceptical to say I’m a politician. I prefer to be called ‘servant of the people’.

“I have dedicated myself to the service of my constituency. They know who I am and what I stand for. It has gotten to the level that, if they request anything from me and I say I can’t do it, they will insist I make a promise. By the time I insist on knowing why, they always tell me ‘because you keep your promises’.

“Before I became a commissioner in my state, I had many people under my scholarship programme for indigent students.

“In fact, it was because of my philanthropic gestures that the traditional rulers in my local government nominated me for commissioner, representing my local government.”

The lawmaker also said she has continued to uphold God’s principles because, after politics, she would give account to God.