The Adventures Of Oko Ashawo The Uber Driver - 106

In my line of work as an Uber driver, I have seen so much that I am very precautious in all my dealings with people especially when it comes to receiving payments after service delivery.

We have so many dubious people on the prowl these days and they look for ways to avoid payments. I have experienced some and heard about many others from the various Drivers’ platforms that I belong to on WhatsApp and Telegram. I still don’t know how some people create fake alert (if that exists) but I have made up my mind that I will never let anyone go until I see the money in my account after confirmation by logging into my bank app.

My most painful experience so far was about 3 years when I worked with one guy who was seemingly nice. I picked him up from the Guest House where he lodged and he claimed to have just got back into the country.

 I worked with him for 2 days in the evenings where he went to Lounges to chill and also asked me to have food and drinks on his bill. He took interest in a particular girl on the first day, asked her to be his company and she followed him after they had negotiated.

On getting back to the Guest House on the second day, he asked me to loan him 20k, claiming that when we go out the next day, he would pay me back after changing some dollars to Naira and he would be requiring my service as well. See mumu me o … I was happy that I had got a very good deal and was already calculating the monies I would be making from him.


When I got to the Guest House the next day to pick him up in the evening, I met a mild drama. The guy had gone out since noon, leaving the girl behind in the room all alone. The Manager of the Guest House insisted that the girl could not stay in the room until an outstanding 35k bill was settled as he wasn’t willing to incur more. Meanwhile the guy’s number was no longer reachable and all he had in the room was a dirty trouser and 2 shirts. It was then it dawned on us that the guy had scammed everyone and run away.

I accepted my loss, used my tongue to count my teeth and left. The girl on the other hand who was promised 90k didn’t get one kobo after offering the guy s*x and wept bitterly that she had been s#xually defrauded.

A similar scenario played out recently after dropping a guy at the hotel. He asked me to loan him 5k as he was short of cash and promised to pay back the next day after changing Dollars to Naira. This is someone that has not even paid for his service for that day. I blatantly refused and told him he has to leave a valuable for me as collateral before I can fulfill that request.

 To cut the long story short, he made a call to someone to transfer money to me for the service rendered and I made sure the money reflected in my account before letting him go.

I cannot be suffering to earn money then someone will come and defraud me of my hard earned money. These days, I treat everyone as a fraudster until I get my money for the services rendered … Shikena.

*Hahahahahahahaha Oko Ashawo don tear eyes.. Congratulations oh, we go celebrate am.