By Kingston Magare 10-7-2025
A boy Eromonsele Omhonria struck by stray bullets fired by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency agents in Asaba, Delta State still has a bullet lodged in his eye two years after the tragic out come a raid by the anti drug trafficking organisation.
The shooting incident which occurred in July 2023 left Eromonsele’s older brother two years old at the time dead. Their father Mr Fidelis Omhonria has been crying for three years now for compensation and funds to threat his other son who needs surgery to remove the bullet lodged his eye.
According to reports the NDLEA despite accepting neglegence in the shooting while its agents were pursuing drug traffickers has not supported the family of Omhonria in anyway.
Responding to to a report by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conducts and Public Petitions chairman, Neda Imasuen at plenary on Thursday, the Senate urged the NDLEA to pay compensation to the family with N200m.
“NDLEA, unfortunately, were not cooperating; they told us that they didn’t have the finances, and so they have not offered anything, even to the family for the two-year-old child that was killed and buried and for the child that is going blind. We had more than three sittings on this, and it became clear to us that NDLEA wasn’t going to oblige; they were not going to help us to help this family.
“Therefore, we recommended that, given the grievances of the incident to the family, NDLEA should pay the sum of N200 million to the family of Fidelis Omhonria as compensation for the death of his two-year-old son and his younger brother, who was shot in the eye and may result in him going blind,” the senator said.
Following overwhelming support for the report by lawmakers, the Senate observed a minute’s silence for the child. It urged NDLEA to take care of all hospital bills for the multiple surgeries and treatment of the child with bullet wounds in his eyes.
The Senate also urged its Committee on Legislative Compliance to monitor the entire process, ensure compliance with all resolutions on the matter and report back to plenary in two months.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, in his remark, said the information at his disposal was that the NDLEA official responsible for the shooting was facing prosecution.