Chelsea star Celestine Babayaro, missing since the end of the African Cup of Nations, is trapped in the north of Nigeria, say reports.

The player failed to return to his Premiership side after Nigeria's controversial defeat on penalties to Cameroon in the final of the competition eight days ago.

Babayaro was even named in the Chelsea squad to face Gillingham in their FA Cup quarter-final last Sunday.

His failure to show up prompted the club to say that it planned to contact Fifa in a bid to track the wayward left-back down.

A man described as the 21-year-old's "guardian", Alhaji Sabo Babayaro, told the AFP news agency: "He has been in Kaduna resting his groin injury.

"He was supposed to leave Kaduna for Lagos today on his way back to London, but as I speak to you now there is a civil disturbance in the city over Sharia so Celestine is trapped."

Demonstrations have been held in the city against the imposition of strict Islamic "Sharia" law.

"Neither Chelsea nor the NFA have contacted Celestine about his whereabouts," said Alhaji Sabo Babayaro, adding that both Chelsea and the Nigerian Football Association had the player's home number in Kaduna.

The NFA had also been searching for Babayaro in the hope that he could represent Nigeria's under-23 squad in its Olympic qualification match against Uganda at the weekend.

Two other members of the Super Eagles team - Kanu of Arsenal and AC Milan defender Taribo West - have also made no contact with their clubs since losing the final.