The former Apetumodu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Oba Joseph Oloyede, has instituted legal proceedings against Governor Ademola Adeleke, seeking to prevent the state government from appointing another monarch to occupy the traditional stool.
The development comes months after the Osun State Government announced the removal of Oba Oloyede and declared the Apetumodu stool vacant in March 2026.
The decision followed his conviction and imprisonment in the United States over his involvement in the fraudulent acquisition of $4.4 million in COVID-19 relief funds.
In a suit marked HIF/50/2026 and filed at the Osun State High Court, Ile-Ife Division, the embattled monarch challenged the governor’s decision to initiate the process of appointing a replacement. He is asking the court to restrain the governor and other respondents from taking further steps towards filling the vacant stool while the substantive case remains before the court.
Among the reliefs sought in the application dated September 16, 2026, is an interlocutory injunction preventing the defendants, their representatives or agents from appointing another person as the traditional ruler of Ipetumodu. The application 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.”
Despite being incarcerated in the United States, Oba Oloyede has also questioned the legality of his removal, maintaining that the state government’s action was not supported by any lawful authority. In his court filing, the monarch specifically referred to a publication by The Guardian Newspaper, which reported his purported deposition from office following an instrument allegedly executed by Governor Adeleke.
The court document stated: “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.
Oba Oloyede’s legal troubles in the United States became public in 2024 when Peoples Gazette exclusively reported that he was in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over allegations of defrauding the US government of approximately $4.2 million through fraudulent COVID-19 relief applications.
Following subsequent court proceedings, a United States court convicted and sentenced the traditional ruler to prison for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar pandemic relief fraud scheme. He was also ordered to refund more than $4.4 million to the victims of the financial crime.
At his sentencing on August 26, 2025, before Judge Christopher A. Boyko of the Northern District of Ohio, Oba Oloyede received 56 months’ imprisonment on each of counts one and 13 of the indictment, alongside 36 months on counts one and two of the supplemental information.
Beyond the prison sentence, the judgment also stipulated that the former monarch would undergo three years of supervised release after completing his custodial term. He was further directed to pay a mandatory $400 special assessment and surrender assets connected to the fraudulent transactions.
The latest court action now places the dispute over the Apetumodu stool before the Osun State judiciary, as Oba Oloyede seeks to halt the appointment of a successor and challenge the circumstances surrounding his removal from office.
