Oba ( Prof.) Joseph Olugbenga Oloyede
By Tuesday next week, the court would decide the fate of the Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Oba Joseph Oloyede, who had admitted guilt in a $4.2 million COVID-19 relief fraud that brought shame to Nigeria and his relations.
Sentencing is on Tuesday, August 26, after United States court had received a fresh plea for leniency from the Apetu of Ipetumodu, Oba Oloyede, who admitted guilt in a $4.2 million COVID-19 relief fund fraud.
Political Economist NG reports that when sentenced, the Osun monarch who had enjoyed US citizenship for decades and led a clean life, according to his counsel, risks losing his citizenship.
His case, according to immigration law experts familiar with the matter and US laws, had been worsened by the emergent Trumpism, a new stand of President Donald Trump on migrants with any trace of criminal record.
NBC News reports that Trump came into office promising the largest mass deportation in U.S history, targeting the more than 10 million unauthorized migrants living in the United States. Since then, data shows border crossings have plummeted, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests have doubled, and the number of people in detention is at an all-time high.
As at August 14, 2025, about 59,041 persons had been deported in a renewed clampdown against migrants especially blacks suspected to have traces of criminality.
Oba Oloyede’s sentencing is happening at a time ICE under Trump’s instruction and Executive Order is deporting migrants including persons who over time regularized their documents. Oloyede falls under this category.
“Though now an American citizen, the new Trumpism will affect his status”, explains an expert who does not want to be named.
Oba Oloyede was slammed with a 13-count fraud charge and was indicted but his admission of guilt and plea of leniency could mitigate the worth of his sentencing.
On Tuesday, August 19, 2025, Judge Christopher Boyko of the Northern District of Ohio United States court received a fresh plea for leniency from the Oloyede after the monarch through his lawyer admitted guilty as charged though he argued that the covid-19 pandemic pushed him into committing the crime as he just wanted to help ameliorate the consequences of the global pandemic.
“COVID-19 affected all of us differently. Conduct that we would never expect from ourselves or others sometimes manifested itself as we encountered a completely different society. COVID-19 is not an excuse. But it is a factor. Particularly when, as did Joseph, one had to worry that pre-existing health problems could now become fatal if the virus was contracted,” his lawyer said in the document.
Political Economist NG recalls that Oloyede, was nabbed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in May 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio and slammed with charges of using six companies to file fraudulent loan applications under the U.S. Paycheck Protection Programme and Economic Injury Disaster Loan schemes.
The Oba who was revered at his Ipetumodu homestead emigrated to the U.S. in the late 1990s and later earned a doctorate. He reportedly worked as an adjunct professor and banker before returning home to be installed as the Apetu of Ipetumodu in July 2019.
US prosecutors said he laundered part of the proceeds through personal and business accounts, prompting the government to seize a Medina County property in Ohio and more than $96,000 from one of his company’s bank accounts.
