The crown could have slipped from his head, however Oba Joseph Oloyede, the dethroned Apetumodu of Ipetumodu, shouldn’t be able to give up the throne with out a struggle. Convicted within the United States on fraud-related offences and subsequently deposed, the previous monarch has taken his battle to court docket, looking for to cease Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, from putting in a successor to the traditional stool.
In a dramatic twist to the unfolding royal saga, Oloyede is asking the judiciary to halt the equipment of succession, insisting that his elimination was carried out with out affording him the chance to defend himself.
The former monarch, who’s the second claimant in go well with No. HIF/50/2026 earlier than an Osun State High Court sitting in Ile-Ife, is looking for an interlocutory injunction restraining Adeleke and different state officers from filling the Apetumodu stool till the substantive go well with is decided.
In a movement on discover dated September 16, 2026, Oloyede alleged that he was by no means formally knowledgeable of any wrongdoing earlier than the state launched into the method of eradicating him from workplace.
He additional challenged his deposition, reportedly authorized by the governor on May 7, 2026, describing the method as illegal and insisting that he was denied the chance to reply the allegations towards him.
His utility seeks to freeze the succession course of, successfully inserting the royal stool in authorized limbo whereas the court docket weighs his claims.
The dispute has drawn different members of the Latimogun Royal Family of the Aribile Ruling House into the fray, together with Prince Oyewusi Adewusi, Prince Isaac Adewuni and Prince Abiodun Oyetoro.
But the courtroom confrontation encountered an sudden hurdle on Monday when the listening to was stalled over the non-service of listening to notices.
While the claimants’ counsel, O. Ogbewe, stated the defendants had been served with court docket processes, Soji Oyetayo, counsel to the fifth defendant, maintained that he had not obtained the listening to discover.
Justice Dapo Adeniji consequently adjourned the matter to January 21, 2027, directing that recent listening to notices be issued and served.
As the authorized battle unfolds, the Apetumodu throne has change into a chessboard of competing claims, with a dethroned monarch looking for to reclaim his place in a palace whose doorways could already be opening to a successor.
