Following the passing of the Apetumodu of Ipetumodu, Oba James Adegoke, in 2017, the kingmakers of the ancient town faced a long and tortuous search for a successor. For two years, the palace seat of the Ife North Local Government Council in Osun State remained without a monarch.
At the time, a prince, Joseph Olugbenga Oloyede, a US-based businessman, was reportedly the most popular among the long list of princes seeking to ascend the throne of their forebears. He was influential and wealthy.
Like someone desperate for the stool, he was said to have promised the town so many things, among which was a new palace. In fairness to him, the old palace had become derelict, an eyesore and unbefitting of someone from the US. He carried out the demolition after he received the crown, though.
When his name was submitted by the kingmakers as the successor to the throne, a dissenting voice suddenly echoed, calling to task the selection process. This group of people went to court in objection to the selection.The aggrieved accused the kingmakers of having turned the head of the traditional procedure upside down in selecting a new Apetumodu, alleging further that Oloyede was a product of a compromised process.
They also accused the Ooni of Ife of turning a deaf ear to an Ile-Ife High Court injunction by giving his expressive nod to the decision of the kingmakers. Perhaps, if the kingmakers had listened to this group of people, they would have saved the town from the monumental embarrassment they are facing today.
A few years after his installation, Oba Oloyede travelled to his former base in the US. Of course, that was not the first time of embarking on such trips since he ascended the throne, but what made this frightening was that the journey was unreasonably long.
The town was gripped by anxiety over the prolonged vacancy of the throne. The monarch’s absence became a source of deep concern, not only for his family but also for his subjects.
The call for investigation became more strident with the claims in some quarters that a Nigerian who bears the same name as the monarch was facing charges in the US for complicity in a multi-million-dollar fraud. But some of his family members, as well as friends, denied this until it was finally confirmed that the monarch’s major source of wealth was fraud.
He is accused of defrauding the US government of about $4.2 million. He was said to have presented fake documents for his businesses and those of others in order to benefit from the US government loan support to struggling businesses in the aftermath of COVID-19.
He has since pleaded guilty and is awaiting a sentence. While the people of the ancient town wait with uncertainty about how long their king will be away in an American jail, one thing is certain: Oba Oloyede’s promise to give his people a befitting modern palace may never happen, just as the possibility of his return to the throne is zero.
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