By Fatima Saka
Dear Mr President,
I write this open letter not merely as a journalist, but as a Nigerian appealing to your conscience, compassion and constitutional responsibility to intervene in a case that has left a family grieving, a little child wounded and a nation waiting for justice.
Mr President, a two-year-old Nigerian child is dead. His younger brother survived a gunshot injury and, three years later, is still living with the consequences of that injury.
His name is Omhonria Eromonsele.
His brother, Omhonria Onose Ivan, is the child who did not survive.
On July 13, 2023, tragedy struck the Omhonria family in Asaba, Delta State, during an operation involving operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Ivan, only two years old, was killed, while his younger brother, Eromonsele, sustained a serious gunshot injury to his eye.
Three years have passed.
The surviving child has grown from a baby into a four-year-old boy, but the injury he sustained as an infant remains a painful reminder of that day.
Mr President, imagine being four years old and having your future determined by a bullet fired when you were barely old enough to understand the world around you.
Imagine being his mother or father.
Imagine watching your child grow while knowing that his eye was damaged when he was only a baby.
Imagine burying one child and then spending years fighting to save another.
That is the reality of the Omhonria family.
Mr President, this is not a case that has remained hidden from government.
The Omhonria family’s struggle has travelled through the chambers of the National Assembly.
The matter was considered by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions and subsequently by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions.
In July 2025, the Senate adopted recommendations calling for ₦200 million compensation for the Omhonria family and urged that Eromonsele’s medical treatment, including possible treatment abroad, continue to be funded.
In other words, Mr President, the Nigerian legislature has already recognised the seriousness of this family’s plight.
A resolution was made.
A child still needed medical attention.
A family still needed justice.
Yet, the waiting continued.
In 2026, the Senate Committee on Legislative Compliance again raised concerns over the delay in implementing the resolution.
Senator Ede Dafinone, who presided over the committee’s review of the matter, expressed dissatisfaction with the prolonged non-compliance and emphasised the urgent need for medical care for Eromonsele.
Mr President, how much longer should a four-year-old child wait?
How many more letters must the family write?
How many more government offices must they visit?
How many more hearings must take place?
How many more resolutions must be passed before action is taken?
A parliamentary resolution cannot restore Ivan’s life.
But it can help ensure that his surviving brother receives the care he desperately needs and that the family receives the relief and accountability that have been recommended.
Mr President, I ask you to look beyond the files, memoranda, official correspondence and bureaucratic processes.
Please look at the child.
Look at Eromonsele’s face.
He was only a baby when he was injured.
He did not understand what an NDLEA operation was.
He did not understand what a government security operation meant.
He did not understand why a bullet had entered his world.
He simply survived.
Today, he is four years old.
He has grown up carrying the consequences of an incident he did not cause and could never have understood.
And while he grows, his family continues to seek the medical intervention that could give him a better chance at life and possibly help preserve or improve his sight.
Mr President, this is where your intervention can make a difference.
Ivan cannot be brought back.
But Eromonsele is alive.
Eromonsele can still be helped.
Mr President, ₦200 million cannot bring Ivan back.
No compensation can replace the child his parents buried.
No cheque can erase the memory of that terrible day.
No government statement can give a grieving mother back the child she carried.
But compensation can provide some measure of redress.
Medical treatment can potentially change Eromonsele’s future.
And justice can tell the Omhonria family that their children were not forgotten.
This is therefore not merely a question of money.
It is a question of justice.
It is a question of accountability.
It is a question of whether a Nigerian family can obtain justice when tragedy occurs during a government security operation.
It is a question of whether resolutions of the National Assembly are respected and implemented.
It is a question of whether government institutions can respond with urgency when a child is left with a life-altering injury.
And ultimately, it is a question of whether the most vulnerable Nigerians can believe that their government will stand with them when they suffer.
As President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I respectfully appeal to you to use your good offices to ensure that Eromonsele receives immediate and independent specialist medical assessment by appropriate ophthalmic and other relevant medical experts.
I appeal to you to ensure that all approved funds required for his surgery, treatment, rehabilitation and continuing medical care are released without further delay.
Where treatment abroad is medically recommended, I appeal to you to ensure that the necessary arrangements and funding are urgently facilitated.
I also appeal to you to ensure that the Senate’s resolution on compensation to the Omhonria family is fully implemented.
The family deserves a clear and transparent account of the steps taken by the relevant authorities following the incident.
They deserve to know the status of any investigation, disciplinary process or prosecution arising from the incident.
They deserve a definite timeline for implementing the outstanding recommendations of the National Assembly.
Mr President, these are not unreasonable demands.
They are the cries of a family that has already lost too much.
Nigeria is a country of more than 200 million people.
But to the Omhonria family, this is not a statistic.
This is their son.
Their child.
Their brother.
Their family.
Ivan had a name.
He had a face.
He had a future.
That future ended when he was only two years old.
Eromonsele also has a name.
He has a face.
And, importantly, he still has a future.
Please do not allow that future to be consumed by administrative delays.
Please do not allow a child who survived tragedy to become another forgotten victim of bureaucratic silence.
Please do not allow the Omhonria family to spend another year moving from one government office to another in search of answers and medical assistance.
Mr President, leadership is not only measured by the size of projects commissioned or policies announced.
Sometimes, leadership is measured by whether the President hears the cry of one family that has nowhere else to turn.
Sometimes, justice begins when the highest office in the land says:
“Enough. This child must be helped.”
That is the intervention I am asking of you.
Let the relevant ministries, departments and agencies act immediately.
Let Eromonsele receive the medical care he needs.
Let the Senate resolution be implemented.
Let the family know what happened and what is being done.
Let the Nigerian people see that parliamentary resolutions are not merely words on paper.
And let Ivan’s death not become another unresolved tragedy buried beneath years of official correspondence.
Mr President, please save Eromonsele.
Please help give him the medical care he needs.
Please ensure that the Omhonria family receives the compensation already recommended by the Senate.
Please ensure that the outstanding questions surrounding Ivan’s death and Eromonsele’s injury are properly addressed.
Please give this family justice.
Three years is already too long.
A four-year-old child should not have to wait any longer.
Mr President, this is a moment for compassion.
This is a moment for leadership.
This is a moment for justice.
Please act.
Save Eromonsele.
Give the Omhonria family justice.
Let Ivan’s memory be a reminder that every Nigerian life matters.
Yours faithfully,
Fatima Saka
Journalist | Public-Interest Advocate
About The Author
My sister God bless you….