Former Sierra Leone president returns after treason charges dropped

Former Sierra Leone president returns after treason charges dropped

Former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma has returned to the country from Nigeria after criminal charges against him over an alleged plot to overthrow the government were dropped, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media. 

Koroma, 72, arrived in the capital, Freetown, on September 6 accompanied by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. He was received by Sierra Leone’s foreign affairs minister.

The government dropped criminal proceedings against Koroma in July. He had been charged with treason and placed under house arrest following a November 2023 coup attempt that left at least 21 people dead, including 14 soldiers.

The government said the attackers were backed by the former president. Gunmen targeted a military barracks and two prisons, freeing more than 2,200 inmates.

Koroma, who led Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2018, was later granted bail on medical grounds and allowed to travel to Nigeria in January 2024.

“We welcome the former president home and we look forward to his contribution to national development, peace and social cohesion as an elder statesman,” Minister of Information and Civic Education Chernor Bah said by phone.

“President Julius Maada Bio will continue to do everything in his power to promote peace and unity in Sierra Leone,” he said.

By Sabina Mammadli