18th May, 2011
Last Saturday, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the embattled Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, journeyed from a swanky half a million naira-a-night-hotel in New York to grim Rikers Island jail where hardened criminals in America are kept.
The Frenchman and randy IMF Chief was arraigned in court on Monday and denied bail over charges that he attempted to rape a hotel maid, tearing her clothes and forcing her to perform oral sex on him.
Even before the conclusion of the trial, the disturbing incident and emerging details which have exposed one of the most powerful men on earth to ridicule have already sent shock and disbelief around the world.
Strauss-Kahn, adjudged to be a favourite to become France’s next president, is being asked to step down as IMF chief. His political ambitions are over.
Last year, Tiger Woods, then the richest athlete on earth and world’s number one golf player, crashed after it was discovered that he could not control his libido and had engaged in many extra marital affairs.
Shortly after media reports exposed him, his advertisers, his wife and a horde of friends all dumped him. The once dreaded Tiger Woods has since been struggling to make an impact on the golf course. He is now viewed as an ordinary athlete.
Nigerian politicians, especially newly elected office holders, who are unable to control their libido may learn a lesson or two from 62-year old Strauss-Kahn and humbled Tiger Woods.
First of all, our politicians must be reminded that women from time immemorial have brought mighty men down. Men who could not control their libido, and men who were set up by other men, all fell victims of women’s antics.
Secondly, they must realise that women who bring powerful men down never stay with those men after their reputation and that of their families are dented for life by the scandal.
Thirdly, these desperate women are an unnecessary distraction as they diminish their performance and create a horde of problems for them.
The business of elected office holders is to make life better for the electorate. For instance, legislators must devote sufficient time thinking about how to make laws that will benefit ordinary people.
Politicians with executive powers such as the president, governors and local government chairmen, must use the vast resources at their disposal to develop our land.
They must avoid using our money to lure campus girls to bed as it has been the case for years. They must not squander public funds on gigolos and campus girls by staging parties for them, buying them cars and sending them on vacation abroad as it has been the trend for a long time.
Politicians who allow themselves to be distracted by women can never perform to the expectations of the voters and may go the disgraceful way of Strauss-Kahn, or Tiger Woods.