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Sierra Leone’s former president, Ernest Bai Koroma, who faces charges related to an alleged attempted coup, has left the country and arrived in Nigeria. He landed in Abuja on Friday, where he was welcomed by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu and ECOWAS Commission President Omar Alieu Touray.
Nigeria had previously extended an offer for the ex-president to temporarily enter the country, and he accepted the offer. The 70-year-old, who served as the leader of Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2018, was granted permission by judicial authorities on Wednesday to spend a maximum of three months in Nigeria for medical treatment.
Current president Julius Maada Bio described the court’s decision as a “humanitarian gesture” in an address to the nation on Thursday evening. Koroma’s adviser, Sheriff Mahmud Ismail, had earlier mentioned that the former head of state boarded a Nigerian Air Force plane, without specifying the flight’s destination.
Sierra Leone’s High Court, earlier in the week, authorized the ex-president to undergo medical treatment in Nigeria “for the most three months from the date of this order and (on condition) that his sureties should provide regular medical updates, signed and duly authorized.”
Koroma, under effective house arrest since December 9, was charged in early January with four offenses, including treason, related to events in late November. On November 26, armed attackers carried out an assault on a military armory, two barracks, two prisons, and two police stations, leading to clashes with security forces. The authorities deemed it a coup attempt by members of the armed forces, resulting in 21 deaths and the escape of hundreds of prisoners. At least 80 individuals, mostly military personnel, were arrested in connection with the incidents.
