Free Town, Sierra Leone – The former president of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, is charged with four charges of treason pertaining to a coup attempt. About two thousand convicts were freed in November of last year when gunmen in Freetown broke into several prisons and a military armoury.
He has previously denied any involvement in the attack. West African officials are reportedly trying to set up Mr. Koroma’s relocation to Nigeria in exchange for the accusations being dropped, according to the BBC.
The BBC said that although Mr. Koroma had not made any public statements, it had been observed in a letter that he had accepted the arrangement brokered by the local NGO Ecowas.
In the letter, it states that he will travel to Nigeria on Thursday, January 4, 2024, if President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone grants permission.
When the allegations were revealed in court, some of Mr. Koroma’s supporters started crying, according to the Reuters news agency.
On Tuesday, twelve other people—among them formerly Mr. Koroma’s bodyguard—were also charged in relation to the attempted coup.
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