Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) has called on the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, to immediately commence the process of dethroning Oba Joseph Oloyede, the Apetu of Ipetumodu, following his conviction and sentencing by a United States court for COVID-19 relief fraud.
It recalled that on August 26, 2025, Justice Christopher Boyko of the Northern District of Ohio, United States, sentenced Oba Oloyede to five years’ imprisonment for his role in a multimillion-dollar fraud involving COVID-19 relief funds.
HEDA said the court also ordered him to repay approximately $4.4 million to victims of the fraudulent scheme.
The monarch had earlier pleaded guilty after prosecutors presented evidence that he fraudulently used six companies to obtain loans under U.S. emergency relief packages, including the Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) schemes.
The civil society group, in a letter signed by its Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, addressed to Governor Adeleke, stressed that a traditional ruler, who by virtue of his position was expected to embody integrity, culture, and respect, could not continue to occupy the revered stool of Ipetumodu while bearing the stigma of criminal conviction abroad.
According to Suraju, traditional rulers are the custodians of culture and values, symbols of authority, and closest to their people. Such a sacred position must never be tainted by the moral burden of fraud, corruption or criminal conviction.
“It is therefore on this premise that we respectfully demand the dethronement of Oba Yusuf Oloyede, the Apetu of Ipetumodu, to preserve the honour of Osun’s traditional institutions and safeguard the integrity of the state,” Suraju added.
The anti-corruption organisation warned that failure to act promptly could amount to condoning fraud and defiling Osun State’s traditional institutions by the government.
It urged the Governor to uphold the sanctity of leadership and protect the image of Nigeria both nationally and internationally.
HEDA assured that it would continue to monitor developments closely and remain steadfast in advancing accountability, transparency, and the rule of law across all sectors of governance and leadership.
Obaship tussle: Iree has no king presently; stakeholders warned against imposition
Meanwhile, a stakeholder in Iree, a town located in Boripe Local Council in Osun State, has been warned against disregarding a valid judgment of the court over the Aree of Iree stool.
Recall that Justice M. O. Awe of an Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo, in a judgment delivered over the illegal emergence of Prince Muritala Oyelakin, unequivocally declared that the stool of Aree remains vacant and no one should parade himself as the Aree of Iree.
Justice Awe, while delivering the judgment on May 14, 2024, had ordered the Osun State Governor not to install Oyelakin and release the staff of authority of the town to him.
Reacting to some remarks by some stakeholders who claimed there was someone occupying the exalted throne of Aree, a prince from Olubonku ruling House of Iree, Ali Afolabi, warned the people against flouting the orders of the court.
Afolabi, in a statement yesterday, harped on the need for sons and daughters of Iree to respect the rule of law and ensure that all they do would not clash with the dictates of subsisting valid court judgments.
