ECOWAS applauded the administration of Sierra Leone of Julius Maada Bio for the Erstwhile President of Ernest Bai Koroma to travel out of Sierra Leone on medical grounds

By Brian M’Bowe-

ECOWAS Building
Photo Credit: Africainvestor

NEW AFRICA BUSINESS NEWS (NABN) Denver Colorado USA- The Ex-President was according to sources banished on exile to Nigeria, on temporarily bases amongst charges of treason and other offences charged against him over an alleged role in the failed coup d’ Etat of November 26, 2023.

New Africa Business News government sources revealed that; twenty people were killed when gunmen broke into a military armory leaving many prisons in Freetown released almost 2,000 inmates.

The former President, who was blamed of plots to topple the elected administration of Bio, was arraigned in court and kept under house arrest… denied the charges and subscribed them as a political. It was noted that, a Nigerian Air Force jet had ferried the Ernest Bai Koroma to the Nigerian capital-Abuja on past Friday after he was given permission to leave Sierra Leone on past Wednesday by the nation’s High court for a maximum of three months, which President Bio called “humanitarian gesture”.

President Bio was, thus, reported as saying that Koroma’s permission to travel does not in any way detract from the seriousness of the ongoing trial of the former president for the alleged coup plot.

The arrangement to exile Koroma was incorporated in a letter issued by the president of the ECOWAS Commission-Dr. Omar Touray. The letter stated, Nigeria had agreed to offer Koroma temporary exile after the intervention of the ECOWAS delegation led by President Macky Sall of Senegal and President Nana Akufo Addo of Ghana.

According to the letter issued by ECOWAS in Freetown, charges against Koroma should be dropped while he begins his asylum in Nigeria. The ECOWAS Commission in a statement on January 20th, 2024, expressed gratitude to the administration of Sierra Leone for granting permission to Koroma to travel out of Sierra Leone.

The statement noted; “ECOWAS commends the humanitarian gesture that stands to serve the greater interest of Sierra Leone and the ECOWAS region. ECOWAS renews its commitment to supporting the government and the people of Sierra Leone in their efforts to foster peace and security as well as to deepen democracy and good governance.”

For New Africa Business News Brian M’Bowe Reports, International Investigation Correspondent