Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, on Friday, has directed the State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Mr. Dosu Babatunde, to act on the lingering crises over the stool of Apetumodu following the conviction of Oba Joseph Oloyede by a court in the United States of America.
The directive to the commissioner came at the time tension was reaching its peak between those who wanted the stool to remain vacant till Oba Oloyede returned and those pushing for the installation of another monarch.
Oba Oloyede, the 27th Apetumodu of Ipetumodu, was recently sentenced to more than four years’ imprisonment in the U.S. for COVID-19 loan fraud.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio had, in an August 26, 2025, statement, confirmed Oba Oloyede’s sentencing. The monarch, alongside a co-conspirator, was found guilty of exploiting COVID-19 loan programmes under the CARES Act between April 2020 and February 2022.
Since the judgment, Ipetumodu has been unsettled, with calls mounting for the state government to decide on the monarch’s fate.
He was also ordered to forfeit assets and pay over $4.4m in restitution.
Since the monarch was convicted, the only official reaction from the state government through the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Babatunde, was that the government wanted to obtain the Certified True Copy of the judgment before further action would be taken.
But in his first open reaction to the development, Adeleke, at the State Executive Council meeting during which critical state policies were reviewed and implementation directives issued to ministries and agencies, ordered Babatunde to “take action on the ugly development at Ipetumodu where the King was recently jailed in the United States of America.”
Highlighting other issues discussed at the meeting, Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr Kolapo Alimi, in a statement obtained in Osogbo on Saturday further said “For the Ministry of Science and Innovations, the Governor urged the fast tracking of implementation plans and timelines for the two major policies recently endorsed namely; the State ICT policy and the State Tech Innovation policy.”
Commending the Ministry of Science and Technology on the recently unveiled Imole Wifi Initiative, the governor charged the Ministry to develop a state road map for the applications of Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technology.
He added, “For the Ministry of Agriculture, the Governor requested urgent actions for the full implementation of the Statewide Youth Agropreneurship project, which was launched at Oriade, directing that the ministry should dust its plan and ensure the programme commences across all local governments in the state.
“On sports development, Governor Adeleke calls for urgent actions on the bills for the establishment of Osun Sport Commission, the Police Trust Fund and Osun Sports Development Fund, directing a closer interface with the State Assembly to fast-track the processing of the bills.”
Alimi said the governor further directed that “Each local government must have a developmental document which will flow from the state development agenda. The Chief of Staff with the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning should interface with ALGON to make this initiative a reality. We must review the workings of the Imole Youth Corps for quality assurance. Posted Imole Corps members must be monitored to deliver on the goals of the scheme.
“Council members should take note of our huge success in the climate change sector. Our many initiatives are gaining attention from other states, the Federal Government, the International Agencies and groups. Our ultimate goal is to generate grants and donor support from several willing donor groups.
“As we move towards the election period, we need statistics and data on our performance across various sectors of the state economy. We should start to generate our governance data. The agency in charge of statistics and data in the state should sit up. The agency in question must work in line with modern best practices.”
On the unfolding drama regarding the Apetumodu stool, The PUNCH reports that tension erupted on Tuesday during a meeting of princes in Ipetumodu, Osun State, after a call was made for Governor Adeleke to declare the stool vacant.
The meeting, held within the palace premises and presided over by the Asalu of Ipetumodu, Chief Sunday Adedeji, started around 4 p.m. and progressed without incident until a prince demanded that Adedeji, as the most senior surviving kingmaker, write a formal letter to Governor Adeleke declaring the throne vacant.
Adedeji, however, rejected the request and reportedly recused himself from any move to declare the stool vacant.
His stance sparked a shouting match among the attendees, causing the meeting to break down around 6 p.m.
Speaking afterwards, a prince from the Aribile Ruling House, Olaboye Ayoola, expressed disappointment at Adedeji’s refusal.
He said, “During the meeting, we all decided that two new kingmakers should be elected to replace the deceased ones, and a letter was written to the governor declaring the seat vacant. But Chief Adedeji refused, insisting we won’t do that. He also announced he was no longer interested in being a kingmaker. That led to chaos, and the meeting ended without any resolution.”
When contacted, Adedeji confirmed his rejection of the proposal, saying only: “It is true. Peace has to reign first,” before declining further comment.
