Fidelis Omhonria, the father of the two-year-old boy murdered by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operatives, has cried out over the deteriorating health condition of his infant son, injured in last year’s shooting incident in Okpanam, Delta state.
The traumatised father, who spoke to reporters, on Tuesday, March 26, in Asaba, Delta Capital, lamented that his family has been abandoned despite promises by the Delta State government and anti-drug agency to take responsibility for the infant’s treatment abroad.
He said: “Today makes it 8 months and 13 days since the incident happened. I have since buried my two-year-old son and the other boy, whose left eye was affected by shrapnel is going through severe pain without medical attention as promised.
The state government earlier said that they would take care of the medical bills and asked me to list what I have spent which I did
“When the chairman of NDLEA visited us on November 2nd, 2023, he promised to take responsibility for the medical bills and to fly the child to the United of America for treatment.
And said there was no need for a court case and that they would fly the child for treatment. So, we buried the two-year-old boy on December 13, 2023, because the NDLEA has assured us to expedite the visa for my son Eromonsele Omhonria’s treatment in the US.
“I was the one that applied for the visa which the state government had written to the US embassy that they would take up the responsibility.
The state gave us a copy of the letter but to 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 to date, nothing has been done.
When the NDLEA chairman visited, he attached a protocol officer to us for the process of taking the child to the US for treatment.
We submitted all documents to the NDLEA protocol officer to process, and 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. And only for NDLEA to call us on February 1, around 8:30 pm that our visa appointment was February 2, we let them know that our family member has gotten the date for us but they said we should go that they would send a 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 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 re-apply.
After I left the embassy, I told the NDLEA Chairman and he asked us to reapply as we were told and that the expenditure for the trip to Abuja during the Visa interview would be paid, which they did.
“Now, I have reapplied again. I have spent much because of the dollar rate, the embassy had given us on April 2, 2025. My son’s health is deteriorating as a result of the delay in the treatment.”
