By Austin Ogwuda
MEMBER representing Aniocha/Oshimili Federal constituency, Rt. Hon. Ngozi Okolie has laid down a formal petition against the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) before the House of Representatives over what he described as “nonchalant attitude towards the family of whose sons were shot by the NDLEA in which one of the sons died and the other one is almost going blind”.
Recall that about three months ago, the father of the kids who were shot during a raid at a black spot at Okpanam, Delta State, Nigeria raised alarm over alleged abandonment by NDLEA after promising to facilitate the treatment of his young boy, Eromonsele Omorhiakogbe, almost going blind following injuries on the eye as a result of by stray bullet from an officer of NDLEA.
During that ugly incident in 2023, Eromonsele’s other brother, 2-year-old, lvan was killed by the same stray bullet and has since been buried.
Lamenting his ordeal while addressing newsmen three months ago, the father of the kids, Fidelis Omorhiakogbe, stated that “Today makes it 8 months and 15 days after the incident happened. I have buried my two-year-old son, and the other boy, who glass from the bullet affected his eye is going through pains without attention as promised.
“The State government earlier said that they will take care of the medical bills and asked me to list what I have spent, which did. When the Chairman of the NDLEA visited us on November 2, 2023, he promised to take responsibility for the medical bills and to fly the child to the United States of America for treatment.
“He said there was no need for court case, and that they will take the child abroad for treatment. So, we buried the two-year-old boy on December 13, 2023, because the NDLEA assured us that it would expedite visa issuance for my son, Eromonsele’s treatment in the US.
“I was the one that applied for the visa. The state government had written to US Embassy, that they would take up the responsibility. The state gave us a copy of the letter but till date, we have not heard anything from them. I was referred to the Commissioner for Health and I met him, he promised to get back to me but till date, nothing was done.
“When NDLEA Chairman visited us, he attached a Protocol Officer to us for the process of taking the child to the US for treatment. We submitted all document to the Officer to process, since then, they have been telling us one story or the other.
“The NDLEA later asked us to move the visa application from Abuja to the Lagos US Embassy, which we did; but yet, nothing happened. Because of their delay, one of my family members now helped in January 2024 to get a visa appointment on February 2, 2024.
“Only for the NDLEA to call us on February 1, around 8:30pm that our visa appointment was February 2. We told them that our family member has gotten the date for us but they said we should go, that they would send letter across to the embassy.
“We went for the interview and the US Consulate asked who was funding the trip, and we told them that it is the NDLEA. They told us that there was no Federal Government, Delta State Government nor NDLEA in their system and so, they denied us the visa and told us to reapply.
“After I left the embassy, I told the NDLEA Chairman and he asked us to re-apply as we were told, and that the expenditure for the trip from Asaba to Abuja during the interview would be paid, which they did.
“Now, I have reapplied, spend much because of the dollar rate, the Embassy has given us April 2, 2025. My son’s health is deteriorating as a result of the delay for the treatment,” Omorhiakogbe disclosed.
Responding to the claim, Femi Babafemi, the Director, Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA denied the allegations and said the Agency was in touch with the deceased’s family.