Former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma Returns Home After Treason Charges Dismissed

Ernest Bai Koroma, who led Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2018, returned to the capital on Sunday after more than two years abroad. He had departed for Nigeria in 2024, days after being charged with treason and other offenses linked to a deadly 2023 army uprising. Arriving at the international airport, he was escorted by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Nigerian Foreign Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu.

Sierra Leone’s foreign minister Mohamed Rahman Swarray and officials from Koroma’s All People’s Congress party welcomed him. In remarks to journalists, Koroma expressed happiness at being back home. The Sierra Leone justice ministry confirmed in July that the treason charges had been dropped, offering no further details.