An Uber driver in Lagos has been apprehended after allegedly absconding with an iPhone 16 worth N1.2 million that was entrusted to him for delivery only to sell the device for N400,000 before being traced to his home and confronted in a now-viral video.
The suspect, identified as Augustine Adimabua, had been engaged to transport the package from Egbeda to Ikeja. Instead, he cancelled the trip midway through the journey and subsequently became unreachable, leaving the phone’s owner scrambling for answers.
The victim, identified on X as Ashake (@Molayoo_), took to the platform to raise the alarm, tagging Uber Nigeria directly and posting screenshots of the booking. “Uber, one of your riders in Lagos, Nigeria, picked up a package an iPhone 16 from Egbeda to be delivered to Ikeja, and he cancelled the ride midway, and he’s been unreachable ever since! His name is Augustine Adimabua. This is someone’s business, for goodness’ sake! We need the package,” she wrote.
The post generated a massive public response, with Nigerians mobilising online to help track down the driver.
The effort succeeded. Providing an update days later, Ashake confirmed the driver had been caught and handed over to authorities. He had sold the N1.2 million iPhone 16 for a paltry N400,000.
Confrontation videos circulating on social media show the driver cornered and under intense questioning. In the footage, he admitted receipt of the device: “I agree he gave me an iPhone 16, 256 GB, worth 1.2 million naira.” When pressed on the phone’s whereabouts, however, he shifted to a denial: “The phone was stolen.”
WATCH VIDEO BELOW…
The claim was met with visible disbelief. The confrontation turned heated, with the driver’s wife reportedly shocked by the unfolding scene present at their home during the arrest.
The case has reignited public anger over a deepening crisis of trust in Nigeria’s ride-hailing and logistics industry. Nigerians flooded the comment sections with personal accounts of similar theft experiences involving delivery and dispatch riders.
The incident is part of a broader, troubling pattern. Nigeria’s logistics sector loses billions of naira annually to delivery theft and fraud, driven by poor journey visibility and weak accountability frameworks. An investigation earlier in 2026 had already exposed a surge in food delivery theft, with dispatch riders stealing items, delivering tampered packages, or simply vanishing with goods — eroding customer trust in one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing digital commerce sectors.
Uber Nigeria had not issued a public statement on the matter as of the time of this report.
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