"A Tragic Tale of Missed Chances: Jnr Pope's Fight for Survival Lost Amidst Systemic Failures"
Now that the battle has been fought and lost; here is my take on the entire episodes:
If the news about Jnr Pope not being dead when he was pulled out from the water was true, then there's a good chance that he would have been alive today.
CPR would have been administered.
A well equipped ambulance would have rushed him to a functional hospital for further recovery.
But in Nigeria, he was first confirmed dead by non professionals. Left him lying on the ground while they were all standing and making videos.
The strangers took him to a mortuary to deposit his body, before they were told that he wasn't dead.
They quickly sat him down and were making another round of videos shouting he's alive.
Then they took him to a herbalist to perform some "river god" rituals normally done for drowning victims.
When that was done, they decided to carry him to a hospital that didn't even have oxygen.
Later, a doctor confirmed him dead.
Yes, we can blame him for not wearing a life jacket in the boat, but he fought for his life long enough for a working system to assist him recover.
The backward African tradition, illiteracy and the failed health care system worked against him, even when he tried to hang on for that long.
It's so painful to see someone work very hard all his life and eventually end up at the mercy of uncivilized strangers.
RIP Pope
Credit: Tochi Henry
