Failed Coup: Indicted Sierra Leone Ex-President Koroma Arrives In Nigeria
LAGOS JANUARY 21ST (NEWSRANGERS)-Sierra Leone’s ex-president Ernest Bai Koroma left the West African country by plane and flew to Nigeria on Friday, two Reuters reporters said, after a court allowed him to travel abroad on medical grounds despite treason charges.
On Jan. 3, 70-year-old Koroma was charged with four offences for his alleged role in a failed military attempt to topple the government in November, but a high court on Wednesday ruled he could leave the country.
The decision came amid concerns his indictment could stoke domestic tensions linked to the 2023 election, which saw President Julius Maada Bio re-elected for a second term although the main opposition candidate rejected the results and international partners questioned the vote.
Koroma’s lawyers have called the charges “trumped up” and part of a political vendetta.
A Reuters reporter at the airport in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown saw Koroma depart on a Nigerian presidential plane on Friday afternoon. The plane later landed in the Nigerian capital of Abuja and Koroma was greeted by Nigerian officials and the president of West Africa’s political and economic bloc ECOWAS, a second Reuters reporter at the scene said.
ECOWAS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The president of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Alieu Touray, was in Sierra Leone last week, for the second time since the Nov. 26 coup last year, fuelling speculation the bloc brokered a deal with the Sierra Leone authorities to allow Koroma to relocate
Reuters
For advert placement, events coverage, media placement, public relation consultancy and further inquiries please WhatsApp 2348023773039 or email: labakevwe@yahoo.com
Short URL: https://newsrangers.com/?p=119502
Posted by News Rangers
on Jan 21 2024. Filed under International, National.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
