Davido’s Aide Will Pay Something for His Phone, and “Something” Has Not Been Specified

Let me tell you the gist before it goes round WhatsApp with three different endings. On Saturday in Lagos, rapper Zlatan Ibile married Davita Lamai. And somewhere between the speeches, the music and the rice, an expensive phone belonging to Damilare Aladegbola, better known as Dre, one of Davido’s aides, reportedly disappeared.

By Monday, Dre had gone to Instagram to do what every Nigerian does in a crisis: beg politely and promise money. His message was basically, “If you took my phone, please bring it back, and I will give you something.” No amount was stated. In Nigeria, that is not an offer, it is an invitation to negotiate. “Something” can mean ₦5,000 or a pair of sneakers. The phone was only described as “expensive,” which in Lagos is a spiritual condition, not a price.

Naturally, the internet had questions. Some wanted to know how a phone vanished at an event you need an invitation to enter. Either the thief had an invitation, or somebody’s cousin walked in saying, “I am with the groom’s side.” Every Nigerian wedding has that cousin. Nobody has been accused by name. At the time of writing, the main suspect is Saturday.

Dre also shared a theory: that some waiters take phones from tables while clearing plates, and that he will now be suspicious of anyone who offers to pack his plate at future parties. That is his belief, no evidence has been presented, and nothing so far says any waiter was involved here. But I support the energy. The next time you see a man at a party guarding his plate like it is evidence, understand that he is not being greedy. He is conducting an investigation.

To be fair to Dre, losing a phone at a wedding is a very Nigerian kind of heartbreak. This is a country where a wedding comes with asoebi, three DJs, endless photographers, and one uncle who cannot find his car. Add a missing phone, and you have a full Nollywood plot, complete with a mysterious reward.

Meanwhile, the real question is why, in 2026, we are still trying to recover a phone with Instagram Stories and good manners. Phones can be tracked, locked, and wiped. But the Nigerian method is still: post, beg, and wait for a stranger’s conscience to arrive. It may be the most hopeful recovery system in the world.

Davido and Zlatan had not commented in the reports we saw, and the phone has not been recovered. So if you were at the wedding and found a phone in your souvenir bag, next to the jollof, you know what to do. There is money in honesty. Nobody has said how much, but there is money.