Toddler shot by NDLEA officials to undergo further eye surgeries

The authorities of Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Asaba, Delta State, are battling to save a year-old child and younger sibling of late Ivan Eremonsele, from going blind in his left eye.

The eye was hit by stray bullet from the guns of a team of the National Drug and Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) official in the state as they were trying to apprehend young drug peddlers around Sweet Spirit Hotel, Okpanam, on Thursday.

The one year-old and his now deceased senior sibling were in their mother’s shop around the area when the tragedy struck.

Ivan, aged two, the senior brother, reportedly died from the stray bullet that hit his stomach in the same incident but the surviving brother is undergoing series of surgeries in his eye.

The incident which has caused uproar among the members of the public was seen to have left the parents of the children devastated as their father was seen in a virile video calling for justice.

Sheriff Oborevwori, the governor of the state, was among the first set of persons to send condolence messages to the bereaved family when the news went virile.

On Monday, he followed up with visit to the deceased’s family right in the FMC where the surviving todler was on admission.

Ernest Ogbedo, medical doctor and head Opthalmology Department at the FMC, told the governor that they had successfully covered the eye to prevent infections from entering it and that further surgeries would be carried out on the eye.

“We have done one surgery but the child is going to need some other surgeries because there is an eye injury which the doctors went through and covered the injury.

“We did an x-ray first and luckily there was no bullet pellets around but we are going to carry out further investigation to see the extent of the injury,” he said.

He commiserated with the family on the unfortunate demise of Ivan and promised that all efforts would be made to bring the culprits to book.

The governor said that the police were already investigating the matter and would make its findings known to the general public at the end of the inquiry.

Oborevwori said: “When we heard the unfortunate news, we immediately issued a statement calling on the NDLEA authorities and the Police Command to quickly investigate the circumstances, which led to the death of your son and injury to his younger sibling.

“On behalf of the Government and people of Delta State, we commiserate with you and your family over the loss of your son, Ivan.

“We have so much confidence in the police and as you know, they are carrying out their investigation; they will not make the outcome public until they are through with their investigations. So be rest assured that the culprits would be brought to book.

While expressing happiness that the todler was recovering, he commended the medical personnel at the hospital for their proactiveness in treating him and assured that the state government would pick up all the medical bills related to the incident

Also speaking Wale Abass, the State Commissioner of Police (CP), assured the governor and the family of the Command’s commitment to ensuring thorough investigation into the matter.

“Your Excellency, we will do our best to unravel the mystery behind the whole incident. We have sent messages to the NDLEA and they have responded and in no distant time we will come out with a report that would be made known to members of the public,” Abass said.

He also commiserated with the affected family and prayed that God Almighty would give you the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss even as he prayed for the hospitalised Eromonsele to receive perfect healing.