Nigeria Escorts Koroma Home as Two-Year Political Exile Ends

Former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma has returned to Freetown after more than two years in Nigeria, ending a politically sensitive episode that placed the former leader at the centre of the country’s post-coup tensions.

Koroma arrived on Sunday accompanied by Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu and former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. Nigeria described the return as the result of sustained diplomatic and confidence-building efforts intended to prevent the dispute from escalating.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu travelled to Freetown on the instruction of President Bola Tinubu. She said Nigeria’s role was designed to help create conditions for peace, political understanding and national reconciliation. She also said Koroma’s relocation to Nigeria in January 2024 followed engagements involving the Economic Community of West African States, which sought to ease tensions and support a peaceful political environment.

“His conduct throughout this period reflected restraint, statesmanship, and commitment to a peaceful outcome,” the minister said.

Koroma left Sierra Leone on Jan. 19, 2024, after a court allowed him to travel to Nigeria on medical grounds. The arrangement was initially expected to be temporary, but the stay lasted more than two years. His return followed the Sierra Leonean government’s decision in July 2026 to drop treason-related charges connected to the failed coup attempt in November 2023.

Armed men attacked military facilities and a major prison in Freetown on Nov. 26, 2023, freeing thousands of inmates and killing members of the security forces. The government later arrested scores of suspects and accused them of trying to overthrow President Julius Maada Bio’s administration. Koroma, who served as president from 2007 to 2018, denied involvement, while his lawyers called the allegations politically motivated.

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His conduct throughout this period reflected restraint, statesmanship, and commitment to a peaceful outcome.