The family of a 33-year-old private lesson tutor, Ashogba Sowedo, has appealed to members of the public to assist in locating him after he disappeared from his home in the Badagry area of Lagos State on October 18, 2025.
It was gathered on Monday that Sowedo, a father of one, had a history of brief disappearances linked to severe malaria episodes, which sometimes left him confused and unable to find his way home.
His uncle, Setonji Adele, who spoke with our correspondent on the phone, said the teacher combined home tutoring with running a small phone-charging shop established for him by the family.
Adele explained that the family initially did not file a report with the police because Sowedo had gone missing in the past and resurfaced on his own after a few days.
He said, “He has done something like this before; he would leave home and later return.
But this makes it almost one month since he left on October 18. At first, we thought he would return within a week or two, as usual.”
He added that although Sowedo is married, he and his wife live separately and share a three-year-old son.
According to him, concerns grew when Sowedo’s wife received strange WhatsApp messages purportedly from him.
The family later discovered that his room was locked, and repeated calls to his mobile phone rang unanswered.
Matters worsened when an unfamiliar status update appeared on Sowedo’s WhatsApp account about three days after his disappearance, yet calls to his phone still went unanswered.
Adele noted that during a previous disappearance, Sowedo returned home without his phone, raising suspicion that someone else may now be in possession of the device.
The family is now considering involving the police to track the phone.
Adele also recalled that a passerby who claimed to have seen Sowedo on the Monday after he disappeared said he looked disoriented and nearly walked into traffic.
Sowedo is described as dark-complexioned and of average height.
Anyone with useful information on his whereabouts is urged to contact 09021348576 or report to the nearest police station.