By Huldah Shado<\/p>\n
A meeting of princes in Ipetumodu, Osun State, on Tuesday ended in chaos as disagreements flared over the succession to the Apetumodu throne.<\/p>\n
The crisis follows the conviction of Oba Joseph Olugbenga Oloyede, the 27th Apetumodu, who was sentenced in the United States to over four years in prison for COVID-19 loan fraud. The monarch was also ordered to forfeit assets and pay more than $4.4 million in restitution.<\/p>\n
The meeting, convened at the palace under the chairmanship of the Asalu of Ipetumodu, Chief Sunday Adedeji, began on a calm note but later broke down after some princes demanded that Adedeji write to Governor Ademola Adeleke to formally declare the throne vacant. Adedeji refused, stressing the need for peace, and recused himself from decisions regarding the stool.<\/p>\n
His position triggered heated arguments that forced the meeting to collapse around 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
Prince Olaboye Ayoola of the Aribile Ruling House expressed disappointment, claiming that the princes had initially agreed to elect new kingmakers and notify the governor. He accused Adedeji\u2019s stance of derailing progress.<\/p>\n
However, Adedeji later reaffirmed that peace must be prioritized in handling the matter.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office confirmed Oba Oloyede\u2019s sentencing on August 26, 2025.<\/p>\n
His conviction has left the town divided, with mounting pressure on the state government to decide the throne\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
Osun State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dosu Babatunde, said the government would obtain a Certified True Copy of the U.S. judgment before taking action.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the two ruling houses: Aribile and Fagbemokun remain at odds. While some in Aribile insist the throne should stay within their family, Fagbemokun princes argue that it is their turn to produce the next Apetumodu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Huldah Shado A meeting of princes in Ipetumodu, Osun State, on Tuesday ended in chaos as disagreements flared over the succession to the Apetumodu throne. The crisis follows the conviction of Oba Joseph Olugbenga Oloyede, the 27th Apetumodu, who was sentenced in the United States to over four years in prison for COVID-19 loan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":75287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-75286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75288,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75286\/revisions\/75288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}