ONE good turn deserves another. Our people say if you pour water ahead of you, you will surely step on wet ground. In other words, it is give-and-take. Scripture says if you want to receive, give. “Give and it shall be given unto you…” (Luke 6:38). There are other biblical quotes that support giving as a prerequisite for receiving. Trade by barter, kind of! If you don’t sow, you don’t reap, and whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap also (Galatians 6:7). For someone who is slothful and does not want to work, the Bible says such a fellow “shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3: 10). A musician converted it into a song thus: if hunger whacks the indolent; let him die! From the above, it is not all giving that is charity. Some giving is a hook meant to attract or draw benefits.
So, when a news organization known for its truculence towards President Bola Ahmed Tinubu suddenly made what looked like a volte-face and announced him their Man of the Year 2024, tongues wagged. One reader callled me and said, “Oga Bola, I smell a rat! Don’t you think this is a Greek gift?” I was surprised that he reasoned that way because I, too, had concluded that Tinubu qualified as my own “Personality of the Year 2024”. It is not everything that is a Greek gift. Yes, the media establishment in question may have been overly antagonistic to the President; there is nothing extraordinary or unusual about that. In fact, the media by its orientation and calling is supposed to be more adversarial than friendly with any government in power. It is a watchdog and has the constitutional obligation of holding the government accountable to the people. The media must be critical of the government. It must at all times hold the government’s feet to the fire to be able to do that.
That, however, is not to dismiss suspicion. Going forward, the same news organization has made a very influential, even if controversial, ally of the President its Minister of the Year 2024! What is a Greek gift? It is a gift given with the intention to trick and thereby harm the recipient or receive an intended reward through the back door. Greek poet, Homer, in his Iliad, tells the story of the war waged by the Greeks against the city-state of Troy but the Greeks were unable to penetrate Troy after a long period of battle. So Agamemnon, king of the Greeks, devised a trick: he constructed a big horse, hid some of his soldiers inside of it and left it at the firmly-secured gate of Troy, after which his troops withdrew into the distance, giving the impression that they had not only abandoned the battlefield but had also left the horse-loving Trojans the gift of a horse, maybe as a form of appeasement and sign of friendship. The Trojans joyfully dragged the wooden horse into their city. In the night, the soldiers hiding inside the horse came out, slaughtered the guards and opened the gate for Greek soldiers to troop in and capture the city. Hence the saying to this day, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts” or simply “Beware of Greek gifts”!
Last week when news broke that a first generation bank had instituted court action against the owner of the news organisation that awarded the Man of the Year award to the President, the reader in question called me again and said, “Oga Bola, did I not tell you that I smelled a rat? Will the President sit idly by and allow a man who just gave him the Greek gift of Man of the Year to be ridiculed or will he step in to arrange some sort of soft-landing for him?”
Later, we saw pictures of the bank boss with the President: Has he been reported to the President? Was he summoned? Or did he go on his own volition to counterbalance influence? The bank boss gave his own side of the story to the media, which painted a gory picture of corruption in high places. Did he sway the President? When the news media concerned responded with their own explanation, I honestly was convinced they, too, had a good case. But when the bank responded again, I got confused! There were a lot of technical terms and jargons traded to and fro. I am neither a lawyer nor a financial expert. The courts should be allowed to comb through the jig-saw puzzle in a way that will, in the end, serve the public interest.
But note that Greek gifts, once received, become a bait. And any trap that fails to make the intended catch must return the bait to the owner!
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