Thread by @DavidHundeyin

An innocent human being was murdered while just trying to make her life better. That's what all this is about.

It's about Ini Umoren.

The ability to always maintain such perspective is a very useful life skill. Not everybody can have it, unfortunately.

When Dr Ignaz Semmelweiss in the 1800s theorised that doctors should wash their hands to cut cross-infection, despite a successful trial of his idea, his colleagues ganged up on him and had him stripped of his license and locked in a psychiatric home where he was beaten to death.

It wasn't about the patients for them. It was about hierarchy and maintaining the status quo and not being outshone by an eccentric Young Turk whose idea led to a 99% drop in cross-infection at his maternity unit.

This behaviour is as old as humanity. It's not unique to us.

It is easy to understand why Nicholas Ibekwe and his contemporaries reacted so viscerally to my story - my existence is making them feel inadequate.

They have been around forever, then this guy shows up out of nowhere in 2019 and suddenly we can't hear word again.

In another 3-5 years time, some 23 year old whiz kid will emerge that will make me look pedestrian and only mildly intelligent in comparison. I might feel some professional jealousy too.

That's the circle of life. We disrupt others, and then we ourselves are disrupted.

Just like Nicholas et al also disrupted the existing Nigerian print media hierarchy at the time, only to find themselves acting like every establishment does just 10 years later.

I understand. I hold no grudges. Humans are what we are. We can't change.

But the point is amidst all this, we should always try to maintain perspective. The more important point was #JusticeForHinyUmoren, not "f**k David Hundeyin."

It was about her. Not you. Not me.

The doctors in Vienna had a similar perspective problem with disastrous results.

Instead of implementing Dr. Semmelweiss's handwashing idea which led to a 99% drop in incidence of deadly peripheral fever in maternity wards, they maintained the status quo for another 5 years after his death, condemning thousands of innocent pregnant Austrian women to die.

Almost 2 centuries later, it seems that Nigerian establishments are still where their Austrian counterparts were in 1865.

From the envious journalists ganging up on colleagues instead of doing their jobs, to the sources who get angry for not being a story's centre of attention.

I think it's a real shame, because while all this political bullshit is swirling around in my professional space, an innocent 26 year-old woman is lying in the ground, and every passing day reduces her chances of getting justice.

I'm not angry anymore.

I'm just disappointed.

*puerperal fever. Auto correct strikes again😞