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By Kayode Sanni-Arewa and Prosper Olayiwola

The sudden disappearance of an ancient crown and royal beads from the palace of the Apetu of Ipetumodu is causing ripples in the ancient town, in the headquarters of Ife North Local Government of Osun State, barely two weeks after a U.S. District Judge, Christopher A. Boyko, sentenced Oba Joseph Oloyede to 56 months imprisonment over $4.2million COVID-19 fraud.

The disappearance of the ancient Aare crown and some royal beads has been linked to aides and loyalists of the monarch, who, according to sources, allegedly ordered the removal of the items from the palace.

“The ancient crown and royal beads have disappeared from his house, which doubles as a palace. He had demolished the ancient palace and moved all the paraphernalia of the stool to his home. But we learnt that a woman and some of his aides were given the task to evacuate the crown and beads. The disappearance of the items portends a grave dilemma for this town, whenever the need arises for enthronement of a new monarch to replace Oloyede,” a chieftain from one of the leading ruling houses said.

He said, “The crown is missing and the mastermind has no idea of what they are doing and the backlash on our town; they are looking for the fury of the deities of this great ancient community and it will be in their best interest to return the crown and royal bead before it’s too late.”

Recall that Oba Oloyede, who holds dual Nigerian and American citizenship, was arrested in May 2025 in the US, alongside one Pastor Edward Oluwasanmi, after which they were both jailed for fraud.

Oloyede’s conviction has stirred calls for his replacement among princes and ruling houses jostling for the throne.

When The Nation visited Ipetumodu during the week, the once-bustling community was palpably tense. Although economic life continues with no disruption, the atmosphere was heavy with disappointment and uncertainty in the community, noted for a rich royal heritage and traditional leadership.

Streets and markets were abuzz with commercial activities amid hushed conversations, as residents weighed the shame and embarrassment against their loyalty to the revered stool.

There are two ruling houses in Ipetumodu: Aribile and Fagbemokun, which comprise several royal families. After the demise of Apetu of Ipetumodu, Oba James Adedokun Adego (Akunradoye II), in 2017, intense lobbying commenced among the heirs to the throne, especially from the Aribile ruling house, which consists of five royal families, namely: Ile-Elewa, Ajiga, Kiajee, Arowoosun and, recently, they added Latimogun.

Subsequently, Oba Oloyede emerged from the Latimogun ruling house and ascended the throne on October 26, 2019. Speaking with The Nation, a traditionalist who is also an heir to the throne, Prince Olaboye Ayoola, opposed the process that led to the emergence of Oba Oloyede, saying: “No traditional rite was conducted, and an Igbo man who is a civil servant put the crown on his head contrary to tradition.”

Ayoola said, “The disgrace we got from our jailed monarch is an indication that God comes with his judgment, and our deities are angry. This is because the process of his accession to the throne was unprecedented in this town. My grandfather, Oba Samson Ayoola Oyebode, was an Oba of this town, and he reigned between 1947 to 1970. It was written as part of the history of his emergence that once a king dies, the princes from the two ruling houses will come together and start meetings. Subsequently, the Chairman of the Local Government Council will address a letter to the next ruling house to produce the king within 14 days.”

Subsequently, all of us from the two ruling houses will start meetings. During the process, each of the families from the ruling house that should produce the next king will start consulting the Ifa oracle, after which we will present one candidate each.”

Expatiating further, Olaboye said, “There are four kingmakers in Ipetumodu. They will now consult the Ifa oracle, again, to choose from the candidates. But during the last contest for the throne, they never consulted the Ifa oracle; rather, they used money to judge who would be the king. In fact, the town was clamouring for a rich king.

“With this agitation, the Council Chairman increased the intention form fee from N25,000 to N500,000; to be paid to the local government, while N50,000 will be paid to the state government coffers.”

Ayoola held that the council chairman equally stated that any contestant must buy a minimum of one plot of land, worth millions of naira from the Osun State Housing Corporation (OSHC) and develop it before he can be considered for the throne.

“We learnt that they had appointed Oba Joseph Oloyede without anybody’s knowledge. It was done secretly. We later heard that they had appointed the new Oba through the sporadic shooting of a gun, which was used to accompany the king to the palace; this is against tradition.

“We reported it to the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, who said we should consult the Ifa oracle, but that was not followed. However, the head of the kingmakers insisted that he is not consulting any Ifa. It is noteworthy that they used Ifa to establish Ipetumodu; the process must always be followed

“If they want to choose the king, they should not follow the Christian and Muslim ways but must be guided by pure tradition. Their refusal to use Ifa caused this. Oba Oloyede failed to observe all the traditional rites we use to crown Apetu in Boosa, no king crowns Apetu, it is the princes that unanimously put the crown called Sese Efun on the king before other crown. He should see the deities of the land. The man who is traditionally saddled with the responsibility of crowning the king was angry for not following tradition, hence he did not participate.

“On that day, the secretary to the Apetu, who is a civil servant and an Igbo man, explained how they crowned Oba Oloyede. It was an Igbo man who put the crown on Apetu’s head.”

Also, another Prince from the Fagbemokun ruling house, Adewuyi Oyerinde, said four kings had ruled Ipetumodu since he was born, including Oba Oloyede, but none ever emerged like him.

“We are bothered, now that he is jailed and all the traditional crowns, beads and other royal paraphernalia have been carted away. Initially, they were in the custody of Oba Oloyede, who had demolished the palace when he emerged. He relocated all the ancient royal instruments to his personal house. But we can’t find them now. Government should help us.”

We followed due process to install Oba Oloyede, can’t commence process for enthroning new king—Kingmakers

Meanwhile, the kingmakers and the traditional chiefs of the town, led by the Asalu, Chief Sunday Afolabi Adedeji, defended the process of ascension of Oba Joseph, saying: “We never acted contrary to the tradition of Ipetumodu.”

They expressed sadness over the current impasse in the town by the jailing of their king, describing it as unfortunate.

Chief Adedeji stressed that Oba Oloyede was selected in accordance with the Chief’s Law of Osun State. The consenting authority, who is the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi and other stakeholders were all carried along.

When asked about a possible process to select a new king, he noted that the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy, Dosu Babatunde, had insisted that the government would get a Certified True Copy of the judgment before acting.

He said, “Anybody who says we should not wait for a government directive is wicked and intends to cause a crisis in our noble town.”

He explained further that, “My people are peace-loving and we will abide by the law. You have seen for yourselves that there’s nothing like disturbance anywhere in our town. We have been administering the town, we, the Council of Chiefs. The meetings are held, God is with us, and there’s no problem and we don’t envisage any crisis. Our prayer is that God should counsel and turn the heart of anybody who wants to start trouble in Ipetumodu and fan the embers of disunity among the people.”

Meanwhile, the leader of the Aribile Ruling House, Prince Taiwo Ayoola, said the ruling house has resolved that Oba Oloyede should be replaced because the former king from their ruling house did not die but was jailed.

He equally passed a vote of no confidence in the kingmakers, urging the government to appoint warrant chiefs to carry out the selection of a new king for the town.

He said: “At our meeting in Aribile Ruling house, which was attended by elders including Prince Mathias Oyetade(chairman), Prince Oyeyemi Oyewole, Prince Kola Oyewo, Prince Bisi Oyewo and Prince Segun Aderibigbe amongst others, we resolved and passed a vote of no confidence in all the Kingmakers for failure to comply with our tradition during the selection of Oba Oloyede, and they should be disbanded forthwith.

He urged the government to probe the emergence of Oba Oloyede before commencing the process to select a new king.

Prince Ayoola implored Governor Ademola Adeleke to appoint the head of all princes as regent, pending the time that a new king will emerge to douse the tension in the community

We plead with the government to allow us to replace Oloyede from among his co-contenders when he emerged as the king, to ensure fairness. This will spare us time and energy. Those from the Fagbemokun ruling house running around should be told that it is not their time yet, as Oloyede is not dead.”