Osun: Adeleke directs action on jailed monarch

Adeleke

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has directed action on the jailed Apetumodu of Ipetumodu, Oba Joseph Oloyede, in the United States.

Adeleke ordered the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Dosu Babatunde, to act on the matter, especially on the crisis surrounding the replacement of the monarch.

The Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, in a statement issued in Osogbo on Saturday, said Adeleke gave the directive at the State Executive Council meeting where key policy decisions were reviewed.

Oba Oloyede, the 27th Apetumodu, was recently sentenced to over four years’ imprisonment for COVID-19 loan fraud.

He was also ordered to forfeit assets and pay $4.4m in restitution.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio confirmed the sentence in a statement on August 26, 2025, noting that the monarch and a co-conspirator exploited COVID-19 loan programmes under the CARES Act between April 2020 and February 2022.

Since the judgment, Ipetumodu has been thrown into tension, with factions divided over whether to keep the stool vacant until Oba Oloyede’s return or to install a new monarch.Punch