The dethroned Apetumodu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Oba Joseph Oloyede, has sued Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, asking the court to block his replacement.
In March, months after Mr Oloyede was jailed for stealing $4.4 million in Covid-19 relief funds, Osun State government declared his stool vacant and dethroned him.
However, in a marked suit HIF/50/2026 filed before Osun State High Court, Ile-Ife Division, Mr Oloyede opposed Mr Adeleke’s move to replace him, praying the court to block the governor from replacing him.
The suit dated September 16, 2026, read in part, “An order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants/respondents either by themselves or through their servants, agents or privies from taking any step to fill the stool of the Apetu (Apetumodu) of Ipetumodu or appoint any person in place of the 2nd claimant who is the occupant of the Apetu’s stool, pending the hearing and final determination of this suit.”
Though still serving his jail term in the U.S., the monarch also challenged his dethronement, arguing that it has no legal basis.
“That in The Guardian Newspaper of May 11, 2026 (online edition), it was alleged that the 2nd claimant/applicant has, by order/instrument purportedly signed by the 1st defendant on May 7, 2026, been deposed from office as the Apetumodu of Ipetumodu without any lawful basis,” Mr Oloyede’s suit read.
In 2024, the Peoples Gazette exclusively reported that Mr Oloyede was held in FBI custody for defrauding the U.S. government of $4.2 million in COVID-19 relief funds.
A United States court eventually sentenced Mr Oloyede to five years in prison over his role in a multimillion-dollar COVID-19 relief fraud and ordered him to repay over $4.4 million to victims.
At a sentencing held on August 26, 2025, before Judge Christopher A. Boyko of the Northern District of Ohio, Mr Oloyede was handed 56 months on each of counts one and 13 of the indictment, and 36 months on counts one and two of the supplemental information.
In addition to the custodial term, the monarch will serve three years of supervised release, pay a mandatory $400 special assessment, and forfeit assets linked to the fraud.
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