Many young Nigerians are quietly succumbing to a hidden crisis shaped by urban social isolation, fading human connections, and undetected health conditions in an increasingly digital world. Behind closed doors and glowing screens, lives are lost without warning, often unnoticed until it is too late. In this report, VICTOR AYENI highlights heartbreaking stories and warning signs of a growing trend of tragic, silent deaths among youths
During Easter week, as millions of Christians around the world observed the solemn remembrance of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, an unusual silence fell over the digital platforms of Shina Fasanmi, a man whose voice had become a steady presence for many.
For followers of the freelance writer and public language instructor, the quiet was immediately noticeable, and as the days passed, it grew increasingly unsettling.
In his 40s, Fasanmi had built a reputation not only as a lecturer in a tertiary institution but also as a consistent voice on Facebook, where nearly 40,000 followers had grown accustomed to his daily updates.
His posts typically featured announcements of his writing services, reflections on language and creativity, as well as curated thoughts from other writers, which he consistently credited.
Beyond academia, the writer who hailed from Ondo State carved a niche offering ghostwriting and proofreading services, demanding tasks he once admitted had turned him into a proverbial “night owl.”
His page, in many ways, functioned as both a marketplace of ideas and a personal diary, capturing his wide-ranging interests in business, research, social welfare and the nuances of expression.
So, when April 4, observed as Good Friday, came and went without a single post, it did not go unnoticed. The silence lingered.
Checks by Sunday PUNCH showed that his last activity dated back to April 3, a Thursday, which was a break from routine that those familiar with his consistency found unusual.
“Keeping your life private offers profound benefits, including enhanced mental peace, reduced drama, and increased security against toxic energy or cyber threats,” Fasanmi wrote in one of his posts shared on April 3.
In the 10-paragraph post, he noted that by not sharing every detail, one could avoid “needing external validation, build genuine, trusting relationships, and gain the freedom to focus on personal goals and growth.”
He added, “By keeping your life low-key, you minimise gossip and avoid becoming a target for unwanted scrutiny, resulting in a calmer, more serene existence.
“Privacy allows you to make decisions based on your own values rather than worrying about the opinions of others. Moving in silence ensures that people don’t know your plans, leaving them to guess, which prevents jealousy and premature interference in your projects.”
In another post he made on the same day, Fasanmi wrote, “Don’t take people for granted in relationships, as neglect can turn intense love into indifference, and good people are rare to replace.
“Showing appreciation is essential because every time you ignore a partner’s efforts, you teach them to live without you. Never take a good person for granted, because one day, when everything is falling apart, those people who were always there before might not stick around.
“People get tired of being unappreciated, which leads to resentment and the end of relationships. Even the most caring people can get tired of being taken for granted. Cherish those who care for you now, before it’s too late.”
Body discovered after one week
Checks by our correspondent on his WhatsApp Business line, through which prior interactions had taken place, showed that Fasanmi was last seen online at 5:30 pm on April 3.
In the days that followed, repeated calls from family members and friends, who were concerned by his absence during the Easter weekend, went unanswered.
Messages continued to flood Fasanmi’s phone and WhatsApp until the device eventually became unreachable, suggesting the battery had run down after several days of inactivity.
No one, not even his neighbours who lived around his flat at the New Felele axis of Ibadan, Oyo State, saw or knew Fasanmi’s whereabouts, and they could not reach him on the phone.
Finally, last Sunday, a post confirming the worst fears of many indicated that the freelance writer had died in his apartment.
“Please, if you have direct contact with any family member of Mr Fasanmi Phassy Law Wordsmith, kindly reach out. I have tried reaching out to the numbers I have, but they have not gone through.
“I heard he passed, and it took so long before he was discovered. Please, kindly reach out if you know his people. This post is from a place of pain!” a Facebook user, Dewunmi Lagos, wrote.
A source close to the deceased, who preferred to remain anonymous, said neighbours were alerted by the bad smell emanating from Fasanmi’s apartment, which led them to discover his body.
“He must have slumped and died on the floor at least a week before his body was discovered. There was no break-in or any sign of struggle. His neighbours described him as a private yet friendly person, and given the layout of the building, they might not have known if he was ill or had called out for help.
“Some were saying maybe he was hypertensive, but he always minded his own business. Though he had some friends who came around, he was an introvert and, to the best of my knowledge, single,” the source said.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that Fasanmi’s brother had been notified and that the body of the deceased had been removed from the building during the week.
However, efforts to speak with Fasanmi’s family members were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.
Friends share lasting memories
As the news of Fasanmi’s demise went viral, many friends and fans of the deceased recounted their fond memories of him.
“Mr Fasanmi lived a good life, from school to social media. He supported so many creators without requesting a dime. I would offer to recharge his number or send him a gift for the support, and he would say ‘No.’ May God rest the soul of a good man,” Dewunmi Lagos wrote.
Sharing screenshots of their chats, a multilingual writer, Olalekan Fadipe, recalled first meeting Fasanmi, whom he described as “goodhearted” on Facebook in 2021.
“He was always engaging with posts respectfully and offering thoughtful, insightful comments. From time to time, he would reach out in my DM to check on my well-being. Reading the tributes since yesterday, it is clear that he extended this same kindness to many others,” Fadipe said.
Also sharing screenshots of their chats early in January, an architect, Idris Animasaun, described the news of Fasanmi’s demise as shocking and difficult to believe.
“He was a good man, one of those few people I reached out to for features on their pages. May his soul rest in peace,” he said.
Replying to one of Fasanmi’s last Facebook posts on preferring privacy, MideVictor Agbaje said he saw the post, but felt like returning to it later to comment that “things should be done in moderation.”
He added, “I wish I did, maybe it would have helped you, my friend, to escape the events that led to your transition to eternal glory!”
Connected but cut off
Fasanmi’s tragic demise has been linked to the intersection of digital technology, urban living and growing social isolation, which experts say is becoming an emerging risk factor in youth mortality.
Unlike previous decades, when residents in urban communities placed a stronger emphasis on communal living and face-to-face interaction, physical relationships have increasingly been replaced by social media engagement, digital connectivity and more individualised lifestyles.
Checks by Sunday PUNCH showed that in cities like Lagos, many young professionals relocate for work and live in self-contained apartments where there are minimal interactions with next-door neighbours.
Furthermore, long work hours, traffic fatigue, and reliance on remote work or digital communication mean they may go days without meaningful physical interaction.
In some reported cases, neighbours only realise something is wrong when a foul smell or prolonged absence raises concern.
Although such incidents have traditionally been more common among older individuals, particularly those whose adult children live in other states and who lack caregivers or home support, recent cases show that young Nigerians have also fallen victim to similar circumstances.
With the rise of remote jobs in tech, media, and digital services, many youths now work entirely from home in cities like Abuja, Port Harcourt, Asaba, Benin City or Ibadan.
Many of these urban, upwardly mobile young professionals maintain a strong presence across social media platforms, often attracting thousands of followers and sustaining high levels of online engagement.
Yet, beneath this digital visibility lies a contrasting reality: many experience social isolation, weakened ties with family, and increasingly limited in-person interactions within their immediate environments.
Their daily interactions are largely online, through Zoom or Google meetings, WhatsApp groups, and social media, which sociologists say can mask deep isolation, as a constant online presence may create the impression of well-being even when individuals are struggling alone.
Recent studies in Public Health and Social Epidemiology show that prolonged social disconnection is associated with higher risks of depression, substance abuse, and premature death.
According to the World Health Organisation, social isolation and loneliness can increase the risk of early mortality by up to 30 per cent, a figure comparable to well-known risk factors such as obesity and physical inactivity.
Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development indicates that one in four young people report feeling persistently lonely, despite high levels of online engagement.
This shift in social dynamics has had tragic consequences. There have been increasing reports of young individuals found dead in their homes days after passing, with neighbours and acquaintances unaware due to minimal in-person contact.
‘She was unfriendly to people’
Although the security personnel of an estate located in Ilasamaja, Mushin, Lagos, were familiar with most of the residents, there was one tenant who stood out. She was simply identified as Joyce.
A resident of the estate, who preferred to be identified as Lanre Fawole, described Joyce as a beautiful woman in her late 20s who lived in a room-and-parlour apartment close to his.
According to him, Joyce’s neighbours knew her to be deeply engrossed in her work at a financial firm, with little time for social activities or close interactions within the estate.
“I only knew her first name because she was somewhat cold in her response when greeted, and she was unfriendly with people. But I do know that she was single. One of my single friends told me he once tried to be friendly with her, but he was met with stiff resistance.
“That’s who she was. I heard she insulted anyone who tried to befriend her in the estate, so I think people generally avoided her. Her apartment was close to mine. She had a few visitors, but other than that, she was often on her own,” Fawole recalled.
Weeks into February 2022, one of Joyce’s colleagues came to the estate security section and asked to see her.
The co-worker reportedly informed security personnel that Joyce had not reported for work for over a week, and that her phone, which initially rang, had been switched off.
By cross-checking her name and phone number with records in the estate register, the security staff on duty identified the apartment assigned to her.
However, repeated attempts to reach her by phone were unsuccessful.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that the request to access her apartment sparked a mild disagreement, as estate rules require residents to notify the gatehouse before visitors are granted entry.
Eventually, when Joyce’s colleague insisted on seeing her house to confirm if she was around or not, the head of security sent one of the staff to escort him to her residence.
“They were knocking at her gate when I came out to them. After knocking and there was no response, they asked her neighbours about her whereabouts, but they couldn’t tell if she was in or not since they didn’t have any social interaction.
“When they gained access to her compound, they saw her car, but the main door was locked from the inside. Her work colleague went to the back of the flat, and it was there that he perceived a stench. It was when he peeked through the netted window of the bathroom that he saw Joyce’s corpse and raised the alarm.
“Apparently, she had slipped while taking her bath and either hit her head on the toilet bowl or on the floor and since no one knew, she passed on there. Her iPhone too had been drained of battery life due to repeated calls,” Fawole said.
He further disclosed that no one was sure how long the corpse had been there, but it was already decomposing. Fawole added that a report was filed with the police, and the corpse was evacuated.
Another resident of the estate, Stephen Kesiena, confirmed the incident, noting that it took considerable time and effort to locate Joyce’s family.
“She was living alone and her family didn’t live in Lagos. I don’t know if she had any friend in the estate who checked on her, but I remember that many people didn’t even know her name when she died.
“I won’t say it was a preventable tragedy, but for it to take so long before her body was found, I will just say that we all need one another. It’s not good to do life alone,” Kesiena said.
Why people become socially withdrawn — Psychologist
In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, a psychologist, Dayo Courson, explained that from a psychological standpoint, extreme privacy and social withdrawal are usually not random choices but adaptive responses shaped by a person’s internal world and past experiences.
He noted that individuals may develop a preference for isolation when social interaction becomes associated with discomfort, threat, or emotional exhaustion.
“This can stem from temperament (for example, high introversion), but more often it is reinforced by lived experiences such as rejection, neglect, trauma, or unstable relationships. Over time, the mind learns to equate distance with safety.
“In clinical contexts, conditions such as social anxiety disorder, depression, or avoidant personality disorder can intensify this pattern, leading individuals to withdraw not because they lack the need for connection, but because connection feels psychologically risky or overwhelming.
“It is also important to understand that chronic isolation can become self-reinforcing. The longer a person remains disconnected, the more their social skills, confidence, and sense of belonging may diminish, creating a feedback loop that deepens withdrawal. In some cases, individuals may rationalise their isolation as independence or self-sufficiency, masking underlying vulnerability or unmet emotional needs,” Courson explained.
The psychologist clarified that from a psychological perspective, social connection is a protective factor which supports both mental and physical well-being.
“When it is absent, not only can emotional distress go unnoticed, but practical risks, including unmanaged health conditions, may also increase due to the lack of external observation and support,” Courson added.
Autopsies and sudden death causes
Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, a Senior Medical Registrar, Dr Paul Anejodo, explained that accidents within the home could result in the deaths of young persons without immediate notice by people around them.
He added that underlying health conditions are also common causes of sudden deaths, noting that such cases can only be confirmed through proper medical evaluation, including check-ups or autopsies.
“An unexpected cardiac arrest can result in sudden death within minutes of the onset of symptoms. In young adults, cardiac arrests could be due to undiagnosed heart conditions such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, or myocarditis resulting from infections,” he said.
“Sadly, young people too can and do suffer from undiagnosed heart diseases. These conditions are latent unless detected through an ECG test. In some cases, sudden deaths can result from drug overdose, extreme exertion, or electrolyte imbalances.
“It should also be noted that not sleeping up to seven to eight hours a day increases your chances of sudden death, heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and more. This is why conducting an autopsy on individuals who died in such circumstances as Fasanmi is crucial,” Anejodo explained.
“An entity called Obstructive Sleep Apnea can manifest with snoring. This can make a person become breathless or choke as they sleep.
“OSA is associated with increased risk of stroke, heart attack, high blood pressure, and heart failure. People affected should see a doctor,” Dr Olusina Ajidahun wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Surrounded by people, died alone
On March 9, 2025, a neighbour of a man identified as Ola Kilani in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, raised the alarm over a disturbing discovery in their compound.
The neighbour, who sent an anonymous message to a Facebook page, Portharcourt Specials, claimed that the man’s body had begun to decompose and had remained in his apartment for more than a week without anyone noticing.
“The corpse has started to smell all over the compound, and there are no family members to contact or call, but the police had given the caretaker permission to remove the body from the apartment for now,” the neighbour said.
However, a Port Harcourt-based security expert, Prince Ndukwe, disputed parts of the account, stating that the timeline was inaccurate.
“It was after four days that a neighbour’s child informed his mother that Uncle Kelani had not been seen. So, they went to knock on his door, only to find flies hovering around his window. That was when they called the estate’s Chief Security Officer,” he said.
The Facebook page later shared his photographs and appealed to members of the public who could identify Kilani to contact a provided phone number.
A search of the man’s name turned up his Facebook account, where it was indicated that he was married, and a photo he took with his wife and daughter could be seen.
However, Sunday PUNCH could not verify whether the deceased, who hailed from Osogbo, Osun State, was living with his wife and daughter at the time his corpse was found in his apartment.
‘My neighbour died during a convulsion’
Recounting a similar incident, a Port Harcourt-based educationist, Juliet Kpobe, said her former neighbour, Chibuike, also died alone in his apartment.
According to her, Chibuike died in the early hours of the morning some years ago while washing his clothes in a bathroom that also served as a restroom.
“He had a daily routine of washing his clothes early in the morning before going to work. His friend, who lived in the same compound with us, kept calling his line. The phone was ringing, but he wasn’t picking.
“His office colleague also complained of the same thing, that his phone was ringing, but he wasn’t answering. The neighbours suspected something was wrong because they could still hear the phone ringing in his room. So, they broke his protective gate and entered his apartment, only to find him dead in the toilet. The toilet sink was broken in the process,” Kpobe recounted.
She added that although Chibuike was rushed to the hospital by neighbours, he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Shedding more light on what might have happened, Kpobe said Chibuike had a history of convulsions, which she believed could be triggered by exposure to cold.
“Chibuike used to have convulsions. I believe these seizures were triggered whenever he came across something cold, and this incident happened during the rainy season.
“One of our neighbours who sometimes slept in his apartment was the one who usually helped him manage the situation whenever it happened. But on the day he died, that neighbour did not sleep in his apartment,” she said.
On October 4, 2021, the Delta State Police Command confirmed the recovery of the decomposing body of 23-year-old comedian and social media influencer, Onomuakpokpo Ogheneochukome, popularly known as Brakin Face.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe, said the comedian’s corpse was discovered by his sister in his apartment in Ekpan, Uvwie Local Government Area of the state, after three days of fruitless search.
Edafe explained that the Warri-born entertainer had not been seen for days, while his mobile phones were also unreachable, prompting friends and family members to begin searching for him.
According to him, colleagues said they had also not heard from him, and his apartment remained locked, with no initial suspicion that anything was wrong.
After an unsuccessful search, family members and friends reportedly broke into his apartment, where they found his already decomposing body.
A colleague of the deceased, however, claimed there were no visible marks or injuries on the body but suggested he may have been poisoned.
‘Don’t die in silence’
In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, a senior consultant/counsellor at U&I Klinique, Pastor Babatunde Oladipupo, said while social media has made communication easier, it has also contributed to a growing culture of isolation, where many people withdraw from meaningful real-life relationships.
“A man who isolates himself from his neighbours simply because he can interact online may unknowingly deprive himself of the support, fellowship and accountability that physical community provides.
“Healthy relationships with people around us, especially those who share good values, help us grow spiritually, emotionally and socially. While social media can be a useful tool, it should never replace genuine human connection.
“It is important to build meaningful relationships and maintain supportive networks because no one should suffer, struggle or ‘die in silence’ when help, good counsel and, for people of faith, the right fellowship can be found among caring people,” Oladipupo said.
A Sociologist, Patrick Tuador, also emphasised the need for stronger social bonds, particularly among young people who, according to him, now spend more time online than engaging in face-to-face relationships.
“Living in isolation, even under the guise of modern communication, comes with more risks, especially with the rate at which young people are migrating to urban areas far from their immediate or extended families.
“To prevent incidents of dying unnoticed, develop a good relationship with your neighbour, identify with a community union, identify with a unit in your church or mosque, be intentional about making good friends in your estate or at the club, and belong to a social club as well,” he said.
Tuador added that individuals living alone should also adopt simple safety habits, such as regular check-ins.
“If you live alone or have just moved to a new city, create a routine with someone in the area to call you at a certain time every day. Be open to allowing them to visit you and reciprocate the same,” he advised.
The sociologist further suggested maintaining emergency contact lists and informal monitoring systems, noting that such arrangements could help ensure that individuals who live alone are not left unnoticed in emergencies.
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