Ex President Koroma in the doc
By Ayo Kehinde
The Sierra Leone government and the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, are in a Face-off over announced plans by the regional body to relocate former Sierra Leone President, Ernest Bai Koroma, to Nigeria on Thursday, January 4.
President of ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, said on Wednesday, that the decision to transfer Koroma was based on an agreement made by an ECOWAS Mission to Freetown on December 23.
Koroma was indicted by his government for participation in the recent coup plot for which he had stood trial.
The ex-President Koroma was however granted bail by a High Court order. He was charged with four offences, including treason and two counts of harbouring coup elements. The case was adjourned to January 17, 2023.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Senegal’s Macky Sall, led the high-level delegation to the country recently.
Touray added that the former President has accepted the invitation to be relocate to Nigeria, and that arrangements will be made to fly him out of Freetown on Thursday subject to approval.
Touray’s statement on Koroma’s relocation to Nigeria, titled: “Temporary Relocation of Former President to Abuja”, reads: “I am pleased to inform Your Excellency that as part of the agreement reached during the mission, the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has offered to host His Excellency, Ernest Bal Koroma, former President of Sierra Leone, in Abuja on a temporary basis.
“The former President has accepted the offer to be hosted In Nigeria. Subject to your approval, arrangements will be made to fly former President Koroma out of Freetown on Thursday, 4th January.”
However, Sierra Leone Foreign Minster, Timothy Kabba, told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the government did not support the proposal to relocate Koroma, which he described as a unilateral proposition by the ECOWAS Commission President.
According to Kanba, his government is in receipt of the letter that emanated and signed by the President of ECOWAS, Dr Omar Touray, but was “unilaterally done and executed “, adding that the last “ECOWAS mission to the country did not conclude on exit of Koroma to Nigeria, so we do not countenance the letter and its contents”.
Last November, gunmen broke into a military armoury and several prisons in Freetown, freeing almost 2,000 inmates.
Koroma had denied any involvement in the attack, which killed about 20 people.
On Tuesday, Koroma and 11 other people were charged over the attempted coup, including one of his former bodyguards.
Koroma was placed under house arrest before been made to appear before a court for questioned over the coup.
He was President for 11 years until 2018, when incumbent President, Julius Maada Bio, was elected.
The former president’s daughter, Dankay Koroma, has previously been named on a list of wanted suspects by the police. She has not commented.
The attempted coup came five months after a disputed election which President Bio narrowly won to continue in office.
The results were rejected by Koroma’s All Peoples Congress. International observers also criticised the outcome of the election.
Pundits say the trial is becoming political because the ex- President is facing a criminal charge left for the the trial judge to decide. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges but the government rather than the trail judge had pronounced him guilty of treason.
