Ademola Adeleke, governor of Osun, has dethroned Joseph
Oloyede as the Apetu of Ipetumodu following the monarch’s conviction in the
United States over COVID-19 relief funds fraud.
Olawale Rasheed, media aide to Adeleke, announced Oloyede’s
removal in a statement released on Monday.
In August 2025, Oloyede was sentenced to 56 months in prison
for defrauding the US government of $4.2 million in COVID-19 relief funds.
Rasheed said the decision to remove the monarch was reached
after the Osun state government received the certified true copy (CTC) of the
judgement of the US court.
According to him, the state government had instructed the
ministry of local government affairs write the US court to request the CTC.
“In the Deposition Order signed by His Excellency on 7th
May, 2026, the action was predicated on the need to maintain peace, order and
good government as well as preserve the honour and integrity of the royal
stool,” the statement reads.
“The Deposition Order further stated that the fraudulent
conduct of Oba Joseph Oloyede as found by the US court and which he pleaded
guilty to and his public trial and conviction have brought the institution of
Obaship and the stool of Apetumodu of Ipetumodu to disrepute and public odium,
hence the resort to deposition.
“Oba Joseph Oloyede was sentenced to 56 months imprisonment
for the offenses of wire fraud, making false tax returns and engaging in
monetary transactions in criminally derived property by the United States
District Court in the Northern District of Ohio, United States of America on
August 26, 2025.
“By this deposition, the stool of Apetumodu of Ipetumodu has
been declared vacant while necessary process will be put in place to appoint a
new Apetumodu of Ipetumodu at the appropriate time.”
THE CONVICTION
Christopher Boyko,
the presiding judge, sentenced Oloyede to 56 months in prison after he pleaded
guilty to the charges.
The judge ordered him to “serve three years of supervised
release after imprisonment and pay $4,408,543 in restitution”.
According to a statement released by the US attorney’s
office in the northern district of Ohio, Oloyede would forfeit his residence at
Medina and $96,006, which was earlier seized by investigators.
In April 2024, Oloyede was arrested alongside Edward
Oluwasanmi, a Nigerian pastor, over the COVID-19 fraud.
They were charged in court on 13 counts, including
conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, and
engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property.
According to the charge sheet, from April 2020 through
February 28, 2022, Oloyede and Oluwasanmi submitted Paycheck Protection
Programme (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) applications
containing false information for companies under their control.
They also allegedly submitted falsified tax and wage
documents to support these applications.
“During the investigation, agents found that Oloyede
operated as a tax preparer and owned five businesses and one nonprofit. His
co-defendant—and tax client—Oluwasanmi owned an additional three business
entities; all were incorporated in Ohio,” the US government said.
“Both defendants used their businesses to submit loan
applications using false information. They obtained approximately $1.2 million
in SBA funds for Oluwasanmi’s entities and $1.7 million for Oloyede’s
entities.”
The duo pleaded guilty to some of the offences and submitted
plea bargain agreements.
In July, the Nigerian pastor was sentenced to 27 months in
prison for the fraud.
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