Those who call money the root of all evils have probably not considered the full ramifications of evil. I see money as only one among the other roots of all evils in Nigeria. As I watch wonder boy Steve Kornacki define for America the full implications and ramifications of the" Bridgegate" scandal in New Jersey. Governor Chris Christie, who only a few months ago, looked like a Napoleon and the best antidote Republicans could ever find to run against Hillary Clinton is so diminished today that he would be lucky if he is allowed to hold on to his governorship seat in Trenton. A day in politics in America could be Eternity.
Those who call money the root of all evils have probably not considered the full ramifications of evil. I see money as only one among the other roots of all evils in Nigeria. As I watch wonder boy Steve Kornacki define for America the full implications and ramifications of the" Bridgegate" scandal in New Jersey. Governor Chris Christie, who only a few months ago, looked like a Napoleon and the best antidote Republicans could ever find to run against Hillary Clinton is so diminished today that he would be lucky if he is allowed to hold on to his governorship seat in Trenton. A day in politics in America could be Eternity.
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The Governor fresh from his second term victory in the New Jersey gubernatorial election looked to me like the only elephant in the room who could attract enough votes from the Democrats and the Independents alike to create a nightmare for Hillary. As one of many pundits in America who is already measuring the drapes in the White House for a Clinton return in 2016, I was a little bit concerned that the Sumo wrestler of a Governor could pose some serious challenge to my candidate.
I heard a pundit tell Kornacki on the Sunday morning talk shows on TV today that the root of all evils in New Jersey right now is not just money but Real Estate or political retribution. That observation was a wake-up call to me to not assume that the Clinton presidency is written in stone. The notion that money is the root of all evils definitely has its limitations. The guy who describe Real Estate or political retribution or vendetta as the root of all evils in New Jersey was actually thinking about the “fons et origo” of Governor Christie’s predicament in New Jersey. To put that in perspective, my mind just went to Nigeria and other countries of the world where money has ceased to be the only root of all evils, if you analyze their problems and their worst nightmare. There are more vicious roots of evils that may compel us to consider money as the least of all evils a man or a nation can face. Governor Christie who is today facing the worst political scandal of his career has to be wondering right now how he ran himself into this cul-de-sac.
The Super Bowl actually took place in New Jersey but because of the proximity of New Jersey to New York, you would have thought the Super Bowl was actually taking place in the Big Apple this weekend. The preparations and the festivities for the big sport were far more elaborate and noticeable in New York than in New Jersey. You would have thought the game was actually going to be played at the Mecca of all sporting events in the world, the great Madison Square Garden in New York.
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But for “Bridgegate” which has virtually deflated the larger than life political ego of Governor Christie, he probably would never have allowed New York to steal the thunder he was initially hoping to get from the Super Bowl glitz and glamor. I said that because Governor Christie was a genius at using every opportunity to promote himself even at the risk of raining on the parade of others. He spoke for about 45 minutes as a keynote speaker for Mitt Romney at the 2012 Republican Convention. He spent no less than 40 minutes talking about himself and only 5 minutes talking about Romney.
Looking back, I think Mitt Romney passed his first test as a Republican nominee in 2012 by rejecting Governor Christie as his running mate.
He, Mitt Romney probably saw, up front, some of the revelations now coming out today on Governor Christie. The Governor now stands accused of ordering the closing of two major lanes leading to the busiest George Washington Bridge for 4 good days as a political retribution to punish the democratic mayors of Hoboken and Fort Lee who dared to not endorse him for Governor. Such a man would not have hesitated at all to use the Super Bowl weekend to to promote himself and his image as an action Governor had he not been preoccupied by the bad publicity his "Bridgegate" scandal has generated for him for more than four weeks now.
I have never in my life seen Governor Christie as sober as he has become in the last two weeks. The Governor Christie New Jersey has come to know would have turned the Super Bowl into a Carnival to advertize and publicize himself and his readiness to be President in 2016. He most certainly would have climbed down on any democratic mayor standing in his way because it was in his DNA to punish anyone who is reluctant to support his candidacy for Governor or President. He has been using that magic wand for years and it has always worked for him because he has never been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Nemesis would now appear to have caught up with him cutting him down to size. He could survive the onslaught in a country like Nigeria, but not so in America. It is a miracle that Stella Oduah is still Minister today by the special grace of Ebele Jonathan who says he is on a mission to transform and clean up Nigeria.
Governor Christie who reportedly diverted some funds meant for Sandy Hurricane victims to do a publicity stunt involving him and members of his family, would not have hesitated to use the Super Bowl weekend to focus media attention on his presidential run and his current position as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association and the candidate to beat in the Republican Primaries which would be looking for a candidate that can give the worst headache to the yet unannounced presidential run of a Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The Republicans are so scared of the duo of Hillary and Clinton in 2016 because something tells them loud and clear that Hillary is the candidate to beat in 2016. I think they are right on that because with 12 years as first lady of Arkansas, 8 years as first lady of the United States, and close to 6 years as Senator of the great Empire State of New York and another 4 years as Secretary of State of the United States and more than 30 years as the champion of Women issues around the world and close to 40 years as the better half of the greatest ex-President and elder statesman the whole world has known, Hillary has earned her place as the most experienced and the most qualified to be President in 2016 if she ever decides to run. I am almost hundred percent certain she will run and win this time around without any question in my mind because her time has come.
Governor Christie had to know that Hillary was far much more qualified than him but he thought that the mere fact that he was the only Republican who could get more votes from the Democrats and the Independents should be a threat to Hillary who will still have gone ahead to beat him even he, Christie did not have all the problems which have now reduced him from the only elephant in the room to a Geico or Kermit the frog in American politics.
I apologize for the little digression. The root of all evils today for Governor Christie is political retribution which is considered a big crime for anybody who would be President in America. Money is only a part of it but it is second only to political retribution for Governor Christie, if you get my point. In America money still remains one of the roots of all evils.
The changing demographics in America is another root of all evils for the Republicans if you see what I see. They are only in denial to admit it.
Barack Obama and the Democrats have managed to put the Republicans in a hole, and the Republicans have kept digging themselves deeper into that hole by putting themselves on the wrong side of all the issues that are going to determine the outcome of future presidential elections in America. Republicans are toast unless they change their policies.
Even though America says on her Currency “In God We trust” if you know what I know, you will agree that the epithet should have been “In Money we trust” We must not because of that think that money is the only root of all evils in America. It is not.
Let me now go to the tiny state of Israel. Their own root of all evils is more than just money. Islamic hostility is probably viewed as the root of all evils. How to keep the Arab or Palestinian population in check so the Arabs are not allowed to push the Zionist regime into a minority in their own country is viewed as a greater threat to Israel. To the Palestinians the willful occupation of their territory by the Jews and the fear that America is never going to be a fair intermediary in their long struggle to reclaim their home land and to reclaim Jerusalem may well be for them the root of all evils greater than the temptation of money.
To the filthy-rich in every society money is not the only root of all evils but among the poor and the downtrodden it is poverty and lack of equitable distribution of opportunities. To the Islamic fundamentalists of the world, the fear of domination and discrimination by Christians is their own root of all evils whereas to Christendom, the fear of radicalism and intolerance and Jihadist violence around the world is their own root of all evils.
To the Iranians or North Koreans right now the denial of their right to nuclear weapons by the rest of the world is the root of all evils because they claim that if some countries can be allowed to have nuclear weapons, they too should be allowed to develop their own nuclear power as sovereign states. The root of all evils for the western world is the proliferation of such weapons in the hands of those rogue states like Iran and North Korea whose track records have shown they might not hesitate to use such weapons at the least provocation, if they are pushed to the wall.
In Nigeria and much of the third world, it will be wrong to view money alone as the sole root of all evils. There are multiple roots of evil, if you ask me. Money is decidedly one but not the only one. Bribery and Corruption have become an incurable Cancer in the Nigerian society and so is Poverty. Once upon a time imperialist domination used to be one of the roots of all evils, but with the colonialists gone back to their country black domination has replaced white domination as the root of all evils.
The Hausa/Fulanis who have been made to believe by the colonial masters they have numerical advantage in population as compared to the South still want to maintain that advantage even when the reality on the ground does not support that. That is why the power brokers in the North always find a way to justify their so-called numerical advantage. The North has a total of 19 states today minus the Federal territory of Abuja compared to only 17 states in the South. The North is still claiming the Federal territory in Abuja as their own making sure that as long as Democracy remains a game of numbers, the North would always be on top in Nigeria.
The power brokers in the North have maintained the same stance with the creating of Local Governments in Nigeria by creating a total of 776 Local Governments in Nigeria with the majority of them based in the North. Once upon a time the North used to claim that Kano City had more people than Lagos. While Kano has no less than 44 Local Governments, Lagos was given only 20 or 22 and that was after Jigawa State has been carved out of the old Kano State. People gravitate to where there is water. That is where the Oasis is where you normally have more people than the arid Desert. The position of the North violates all the known norms of Demography as eloquently argued by Awolowo in shooting down the 1974 Census in Nigeria.
That explains why Nigeria is ever so scared to introduce the issue of identity cards to all Nigerians because our power brokers and leaders’ fear that if every Nigerian is issued a social security card like is done in America and all developed countries, the fallacy that the North is much more populated than the South cannot be sustained. It is for the same reason that Nigeria is afraid to do an accurate head count or Census. Rather than do that they subscribe to making projections based on faulty assumptions and figures. It is for the same reason the I.N.E.C cannot compile an accurate voters’ registration in every state or Local Government of the country.
Nigeria does not know how many mouths she is feeding or how much of the Nigerian money is in circulation. When you take these revelations as a backdrop to the move by President Jonathan to float a National Conference, you will understand why the President is insisting on a few “no go” areas” for those who will sit in that Conference. They must never ever talk about the possibility of the country breaking up, even if there are reasons to support or recommend such a proposition. Nigeria must willy nilly remain one country even when the facts on the ground do not support that.
Nigeria is therefore a country in a national identity crisis. That observation quite apart from the other multiple roots of all evils we all have as a nation is part of the reasons Nigeria cannot compare herself to a country like Singapore or even our next door neighbor, Ghana talk less of other developed countries like England and America. Nigeria’s fear to admit her problems and to realistically work together to solve them is hampered by our collective denial about what is wrong in our country.
I cannot help but compare what is currently happening to Governor Christie of New Jersey and how the same scandal would never have seen the light of day in Nigeria. The Integrity Monitoring Law and the Transparency Law the New Jersey Legislature has passed into Law would never have come to pass in any of the Nigerian state legislatures talk less of the federal level. Governor Christie is in deep deep trouble today for what many of his Nigerian counterparts have been doing without anybody lifting a finger against them.
A fearless journalist like Steve Kornacki who first broke the news on the scandal in New Jersey could never have been spared in Nigeria. Omoyele Sowore and his team of reporters in New york are doing precisely the same thing that Steve Kornacki is doing today for New jersey.
Popular Governor Mimiko of Ondo State has built many Bus stop stations in Akure the state capital without any buses to use them. He is building those stations from its allocations in revenues from the Federal Government because Ondo State is now an oil-producing state in Nigeria. Mimiko receives in one month a revenue that Gov. Ajasin or Gov. Adebayo Adefarasin did not receive in one year of their governorship in Ondo State. Is the Ondo State House of Assembly interested in how that money is being disbursed by the Governor? Hell, No. That was why I once predicted in one of my articles that nobody would ever know about any financial havoc Mimiko may have committed until after he leaves office. You can multiply that problem by 36 meaning that every Governor in Nigeria is guilty of the same charge.
It is a different ball game in America where the whistle blowers like Steve Kornacki are eulogized and singled out for praises by the people. Whistle blowers like Sahara Reporters and their team of investigative journalists are hunted for bending over backward to ask some pertinent questions so our leaders can show transparency and accountability in their service to the nation. Governor Christie of New Jersey may have no choice than to resign before he does any further damage to New Jersey. You compare his current predicament to how Governor Ibori never had to answer to anybody in Delta State or Nigeria until he was arrested and jailed for 13 years for money laundering and corruption in London.
The claim that money is the only root of all evils surely has its limitations. There are other roots of evil that are never mentioned but they all remain as lethal and and dangerous if you really think about them.
I rest my case.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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