FREETOWN, Jan 19 (AFP): Former president Ernest Bai Koroma, charged for his alleged role in what authorities call an attempted coup, left Sierra Leone on Friday, two sources close to him said.
Koroma, who led the West African nation from 2007 to 2018, had received permission from judicial authorities on Wednesday to spend a maximum of three months in Nigeria for medical treatment.
Current president Julius Maada Bio described the move as a "humanitarian gesture" during an address to the nation on Thursday evening.
The former head of state boarded a Nigerian Air Force plane on Friday, Koroma's adviser Sheriff Mahmud Ismail said, without specifying the flight's final destination.
A party official told AFP on condition of anonymity that Koroma had left his place of residence for Nigeria.
Sierra Leone's High Court earlier this week authorised the ex-president to undergo medical treatment in Nigeria "for at the most three months from the date of this order and (on condition) that his sureties should provide regular medical updates, signed and duly authorised".
Koroma, who has effectively been assigned to house arrest since December 9, was charged in early January with four offences, including treason, in relation to the events at the end of November.
On November 26, armed attackers stormed a military armoury, two barracks, two prisons and two police stations, clashing with security forces.
Twenty-one people were killed and hundreds of prisoners escaped before authorities were able to regain control after what they deemed a coup attempt by members of the armed forces.
At least 80 people were arrested in connection with the clashes, most of them military personnel.
Indicted ex-S Leone president leaves country
FE Team | Published: January 19, 2024 23:57:20
Indicted ex-S Leone president leaves country
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