Former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma has arrived in Nigeria to seek medical treatment, three months after he was charged with treason and granted conditional bail.
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He arrived in Abuja on Friday after a court in his home country permitted him to travel to Nigeria to seek medical care for three months.
Mr Koroma was arrested and charged with treason against his country, misprision of treason, and two counts of harbouring suspects. He was later granted bail on the condition that he could not leave his house except permitted by the Inspector-General of Police.
The Sierra Leone government had previously said the hearing of the case against the former president would resume on 17 January when they would be ready to bring in witnesses.
According to Channels, he flew to Nigeria aboard a Nigerian Air Force plane and was received by Nigeria’s National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu and the President of the ECOWAS Commission Omar Touray.
Addressing the country on Thursday, President Julius Bio spoke about Mr Koroma’s departure to Nigeria saying, “The courts have, therefore, granted the application for the former President to depart from the country purely for specialised medical reasons, and his trial will be suspended for the duration of his absence.”
The president added that Mr Koroma’s departure to Nigeria did not in any way detract from the seriousness of the ongoing trials and that it was further proof that “the trial is not a political witch-hunt but one aimed at unravelling the truth behind the events of 26 November.”
Mr Koroma arrives in Nigeria amid rumours that he had agreed to go on exile in Nigeria if all charges against him were dropped.
According to the BBC, anonymous sources from the United Nations and ECOWAS said the sub-regional bloc (ECOWAS) had brokered a deal for Mr Koroma to go into exile in Nigeria if the charges were dropped.
The BBC also said it saw a letter saying Mr Koroma had agreed to the deal, which would see him continue to enjoy the perks of a former president even while in Nigeria.
However, Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minster Timothy Kabba told the BBC the government did not support the proposal, describing it as a “unilateral proposition” by the President of the ECOWAS Commission.
Mr Koroma was president of the West African country for 11 years until 2018 when current President Julius Bio succeeded him.
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