The police in the UK have begun a search for a Nigerian poet, Gboyega Odubanjo, who had gone missing at a festival in the United Kingdom.

According to a statement by Northamptonshire Police, the poet went missing last Saturday, August 26, while attending the Shambala Festival in Kelmarsh, Northamptonshire, where he was to perform.

The poet, 27, from Bromley, southeast London, was last seen around 4:00 a.m. wearing a red and white striped gilet with black clothing underneath and a cream-coloured bucket hat, black trousers, and dark-coloured shoes.

The Northamptonshire Police described Mr Odubanjo as 5ft tall, wearing glasses, short black dreadlocks, and having a full-face beard.

The police stated, “If you see Gboyega, please call Northamptonshire Police on 999. Information and previous sightings can also be reported by calling 101, quoting reference number MPD1/2619/23.”

The poet, currently studying for his PhD in creative writing at the University of Hertfordshire, is an editor for Bad Betty Press and the poetry magazine Bath Magg and the winner of the 2020 Poetry Business New Poets prize for his pamphlet Aunty Uncle Poems and an Eric Gregory award from the Society of Authors.

Meanwhile, Mr Odubanjo’s family, while describing their son as loving and caring, showed “profound concern” for their son’s safety and well-being, stating that his disappearance was “entirely out of character.”

In their appeal, the family said: “We are reaching out to the community, friends, and all compassionate individuals who may have any information that could lead to his safe return. No piece of information is too small, and your help could be the key to bringing him back to us.”