The Osun State Government says it will obtain the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment delivered by a United States court that sentenced the Apetumodu of Ipetumodu, Oba Joseph Oloyede, to prison over a multimillion-dollar COVID-19 loan fraud.
Oloyede, 62, a dual citizen of Nigeria and the U.S., was on Tuesday sentenced to 56 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Christopher A. Boyko.
He was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay $4.4 million in restitution.
The monarch forfeited a house in Medina, Ohio, and nearly $100,000 traced to the fraud.
According to U.S. prosecutors, he conspired with Edward Oluwasanmi, 62, to file fraudulent applications for COVID-19 emergency loans between April 2020 and February 2022.
Speaking with The PUNCH on Wednesday, the Osun Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dosu Babatunde, said the state government would not rely on media reports before acting.
“While it may be true that the monarch has been convicted and jailed, there is no official record with us.
We cannot act based on Facebook posts or social media stories,” he said.
Babatunde explained that the government would study the court’s judgment before taking any decision on the monarch’s stool.
Meanwhile, calm prevailed in Ipetumodu on Wednesday, though residents discussed the issue quietly.
Chiefs in the community reportedly held a meeting at the palace to deliberate on the monarch’s fate.
The town’s most senior chief, Sunday Adedeji, said there was no crisis, expressing hope that peace would continue to reign in the community.