Missing Boy In Lagos Takes To His Heels When Seen By Guardian, Remains In Hiding As Mother Gets Worried

By Frank Oshanugor

The whereabouts of a 15-year-old boy, David Akpan Philip from Ikot Ido village in Onna Local Government Area of Cross River State has become of a serious concern to his guardian, Mrs. Stella Chukelu, a widow and tailoring materials trader in Lagos Island. She has therefore appealed to members of the public to help her locate the fleeing teenager.

David who was born at Oron and speaks Oron and English Languages fluently was said to have come to live with Mrs. Chukelu through the connection of her brother in-law from Akwa Ibom State. The brother-inlaw is married to Chukelu’s sister. Narrating her story to ATLANTICNEWSONLINE on Tuesday, Mrs. Chukelu said, “we train boys as apprentice in tailoring materials trading in Lagos Island. When David arrived at my place, I called his mother on phone to confirm that the boy was with me. Both of them subsequently spoke as mother and child. Eventually, we started living together and going to market.

“I also have another boy apprentice, about 16 years old – an Ibo boy. Our business, is such that towards evening time; we assemble at the park along the road from where all of us would go home together. One day after about three weeks David had joined us, the boy suddenly did not come to the park as usual. The senior apprentice said he did not see him when he got to the park. I asked him what happened? Normally, it has been my practice to always give my phone number and house address to any new apprentice in case he or she is missing way home.

“After waiting for more than an hour, without seeing him, I decided we should go home believing that since he has my phone number and house address, he would find his way home. On arrival at home, I left instruction with my gate man that in case he saw the new apprentice, he should alert me. We live at Ifako Gbagada, Lagos. After some time, the gateman came up and told me that he had seen the boy under the stair case. I quickly asked, what was he doing under the staircase? I went down stairs to meet him there and asked, David why are you staying outside, why could you not come home with us?

“He said, he missed his way. I then asked him, how did he manage to get home, he responded that he had to plead with somebody who brought him on motor cycle back home. I thanked God that he returned safely. After about a week later the same thing occurred again and I had to call his mother to intimate her about the first and second incident happening to David, that I was not finding it funny. The mother pleaded with me to take David as my son, that whatever way I could treat my own son, I should do same to David. I promised her, I would do so, since I also have sons. I also know that when some apprentices are new in a place, they occasionally behave like that but before you know it, they would blend.

“So I thought same for David. The mother went ahead to still plead with me, telling me that my brother in-law through whom we knew, had told her that I am a nice person, I assured her that I would do my best to bring up David to be good boy, that I would take him like my son. However, after about two weeks later, it happened again. He had arrived the park together with the senior boy to wait for me so that we could go home together. All of a sudden, he told the senior boy that he was going to ease himself. His colleague waited a while, he could not find him. I came around and we waited for some time, he did not show up, so we went home, believing that he would return as usual. After waiting for a few days without him returning home, the senior boy and I, went in search of David in the Lagos Island area where we are trading.

“Soon as we arrived at Adeniji Adele road, trying to access another street in the area, we sighted him and as I mentioned his name, he took to his heels. The senior boy promptly ran after him in an attempt to get hold of him. Regrettably, David ran faster than him and was able to hide himself out of the other boy’s sight. This was on a Sunday after church service.’

Since this incident in January, 2025, Mrs. Chukelu has been living unsettled life as David’s whereabouts remains unknown. Asked if David is educated up to secondary school level before he joined her family, she said “I do not know if he had a secondary school education, though he speaks good English.” Explaining further, she said, “the mistake I made was that I did not promptly report to the police, as I had believed that he would return home like in previous cases.

“However, I eventually reported the matter to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Panti by myself. I was briefly detained after being interrogated, but was later released with instruction that I should go and be searching for the boy while I have to report to the station every week until he is found. My husband is late. The boy has lived with us for about four months while the senior boy who hails from Enugu has lived with us for more than three years now. He is 16 years old.

“This is not the first time, I am having an apprentice boy in my place. I have trained many of them in tailoring materials trading. I have never maltreated David, the only complaint I learnt he has made to my children and the other boy is that my family is not the outgoing type for social activities apart from the marketing activities. To me, his coming to live with my family is for him to learn trading, but talking about going out for other activities, is what I could not understand considering his age.”

According to Mrs. Stella Chukelu, “I later got some information from my brother in-law that David whose father is late also, was sent to school with his siblings in his place at Calabar but he unceremoniously abandoned school for street life, engaging in iron scavenging to make some quick money hence his mother chose to send him to Lagos ostensibly for him to live under the guardianship of someone else.

“I have also received some information from one or two persons who saw him scavenging condemned irons here in Lagos. His mother is aware of this development and she has asked me to look for her son. I am now pleading with members of the public who may come across him to quickly alert us through the phone number inscribed on David’s photograph in this story.