Mr. Fidelis Omhonria, the father of two-year-old Ivan Omhonria who was killed by a stray bullet from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, has expressed his outrage over the rate at which his second son’s eye is failing as a result of the tragedy.
Remember that in July 2023, a stray bullet from the NDLEA killed two-year-old Ivan and buried him, while his one-year-old sibling Eromonsele Omhonria was injured by a bullet at that same time.
Eromonsele’s eye is currently worsening due to a delay in obtaining a US visa for his treatment, according to Mr. Omhonria, the father of both Ivan and Eromonsele, who spoke with reporters on Wednesday in Asaba, the capital of Delta State.
Omhonria bemoaned the rate at which his son’s eye was failing and urged President Bola Tinubu and Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevweri to act quickly to save his son’s vision.
He said, “Today makes it eight months and 13 days the incident happened. I have buried my two-year-old son and the other boy, now a year and eight months old, is going through very tough time without attention as promised, as a result of glass from the bullet which affected his eye.
“The state government earlier said that it would take care of the medical bills and asked me to list what I have spent, which did.
“When NDLEA Chairman visited us on November 2, 2023, he promised to take responsibility for the medical bills and to fly the child to US for treatment.
“He said there was no need for court case and that they would fly the injured child out for treatment; so, we buried Ivan on December 13, 2023, because the NDLEA assured us that it would expedite visa for my second son, Eromonsele’s treatment in the US and we withdrew the case.
“I applied for the visa, with the state government writing to the US embassy that they will take up the responsibility.
“The state gave us a copy of the letter, but till date, we have not heard anything from the state government. 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 US for treatment.
“We submitted all documents to the NDLEA protocol officer to process, since then, they have been telling us one story after the other.
“The NDLEA later asked us to move visa application from Abuja to Lagos US embassy, which we did, but yet nothing happened.
“Because of the delay, one of my family members helped us in January 2024, to get a visa appointment for February 2, 2024, only for NDLEA to call us on February 1, around 8:30pm that our visa appointment was February 2 at Abuja.
“We let them know that our family member has gotten the date for us, but they said we should go, that they will send letter across to the embassy.”
Omhonria went on to say that they attended a visa interview on February 2 but were regrettably turned down.
He added, “We went for the interview and the US consulate asked who is funding the trip and we told them that it is NDLEA; they told us that there was no Federal Government, Delta State government or 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 again, spent much because of the dollar rate, the embassy has given us April 2, 2024. My son’s health is deteriorating, as a result of the delay for the treatment
“At night, tears and blood will be rushing out of his eye. I am begging President Tinubu, Governor Oborevweri and the NDLEA to come to our aid. The situation is unbearable for us now.”
However, Eromonsele’s travel plans to the United States for his eye treatment are being expedited, and the NDLEA Chairman, Buba Marwa, along with the Delta State government, through Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Kingsley Emu, announced that they were working on the visa application process.
