…as National fury erupts as lawmakers demand justice, medical evacuation, and full accountability for the “avoidable killing” of two innocent children during NDLEA’s reckless operation.
By Joy Odor, Abuja
Nigeria is reeling in outrage after a tragic NDLEA operation turned into a family’s nightmare, leaving a two-year-old boy dead and his one-year-old brother fighting to keep his sight after being shot in the eye.
The chilling incident now at the center of a Senate investigation has ignited a national reckoning over security recklessness, state impunity, and the sanctity of innocent lives.
Presiding over the tense hearing at the National Assembly, Senator Garba Musa Maidoki (Kebbi South), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Legislative Compliance, delivered the upper chamber’s damning verdict while briefing journalists shortly after the hearing:
“A two-year-old and a one-year-old both victims of a misfired NDLEA operation speak to the conscience of this nation. This is not the Nigeria we dreamt of.”
The Senate has ordered the NDLEA to pay ₦200 million in compensation to the grieving family and immediately evacuate the surviving child for specialist treatment abroad, following findings by the Senate Committee on Public Petitions, Ethics and Privileges.
Lawmakers condemned the “reckless disregard for human life” by NDLEA operatives, describing the episode as an avoidable act of state-induced tragedy.
The Upper Chamber also mandated that the agency bear all medical costs and audit its operational procedures to prevent similar disasters.
“We cannot continue to kill our own children and call it collateral damage,” one senator declared in anger. “The NDLEA must answer for this.”
The ₦200 million reparation, the Senate ruled, should come from the Service-Wide Vote, since it was not captured in the agency’s 2025 budget.
But while the Senate’s directives are clear, the NDLEA’s silence has deepened the pain.
Weeks after the resolution, the family says no official from the agency has reached out, and the injured toddler’s condition is worsening fast.
“NDLEA has not spoken to us. Our child’s condition is getting worse by the day,” the devastated mother cried.
Outraged by the agency’s inaction, the Senate Committee has summoned NDLEA leadership to appear on October 20, demanding an explanation for the non-compliance.
Lawmakers have also resolved to brief Senate President Godswill Akpabio to escalate the matter directly to President Bola Tinubu.
“Nobody is above the law,” Maidoki warned. “NDLEA is a creation of the law. The Senate is a creation of the law. Even the President derives his authority from the law and the law will take its course.”
The Senate Committee on Legislative Compliance will monitor NDLEA’s response to ensure the family receives the compensation and medical attention “without delay or excuses.”
In what Senators described as a “test of Nigeria’s conscience,” the case has sparked renewed calls for accountability within the nation’s security and law enforcement agencies.
“It is pathetic, it is shameful,” another lawmaker said. “We must stop turning our guns against our children. This is not enforcement it’s lawlessness.”
As the NDLEA faces mounting pressure to act, one haunting truth remains: a two-year-old is gone, a one-year-old may lose his sight, and a family is left to pick up the pieces of a tragedy that should never have happened.
The nation watches, hearts heavy, asking will justice finally come for the smallest victims of a failed operation?
