Former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma came to Nigeria in January 2024 for medical treatment, following a court order that allowed him to leave Sierra Leone while facing treason charges over an alleged failed coup attempt.
What was approved as a stay of no more than three months eventually lasted more than two years, with Koroma remaining in Nigeria until his return to Sierra Leone on Sunday, September 6, 2026.
Koroma, who was 70 at the time, had been under house arrest in Sierra Leone since December 9, 2023, following the November 26, 2023 attacks in which armed men targeted military installations, police stations and prisons in the capital, Freetown.
The government described the incident as a failed coup attempt. Koroma was subsequently charged with treason and other offences over the events, allegations he denied.
Koroma’s Trip to Nigeria
On January 17, 2024, Sierra Leone’s High Court varied Koroma’s bail conditions to allow him to travel to Nigeria for medical attention.
The court order permitted him to remain in Nigeria for a maximum of three months. It also required his sureties to provide regular medical updates, signed and authorised by a specialist doctor, to the court while he was outside Sierra Leone.
The court’s decision followed an application by Koroma’s lawyer, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara, which was supported by a medical report and an affidavit.
The judiciary said the decision was made after considering Koroma’s medical condition and his request to seek treatment outside the country.
Two days later, on January 19, Koroma arrived in Abuja.
He was received by Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and then ECOWAS Commission President Omar Alieu Touray. Nigeria had previously offered to allow Koroma to enter the country temporarily.
At the time, Sierra Leone’s government described the decision to allow him to travel as a humanitarian gesture, while stressing that the criminal case against him remained active.
Three-Month Stay Turned Into Three Years
Koroma’s prolonged stay in Nigeria was linked to both his medical treatment and the criminal proceedings he faced in Sierra Leone.
He had been accused of involvement in the November 2023 attacks, which left at least 21 people dead and resulted in hundreds of prisoners escaping from correctional facilities.
Koroma denied involvement in the alleged coup attempt, while his lawyers described the charges as politically motivated.
After which, Koroma’s departure was authorised for three months. He did not return to Sierra Leone at the end of that period.
Instead, his stay in Nigeria continued as the political and legal issues surrounding his case remained unresolved.
Nigeria’s government later said his relocation had become part of wider regional diplomatic efforts involving ECOWAS, aimed at promoting peace, stability and political understanding in Sierra Leone.
Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan also said after Koroma’s departure in September 2026 that Nigeria had been his “home away from home” for more than two years and that efforts had been made quietly with others to encourage dialogue with Sierra Leonean authorities and create conditions for his safe and dignified return.
Home at Last
The major change came in July 2026, when Sierra Leone discontinued the criminal proceedings against Koroma.
The withdrawal of the case removed the legal proceedings that had surrounded his stay outside the country and paved the way for his eventual return.
Koroma returned to Sierra Leone on September 6, 2026, more than two years after arriving in Nigeria for what had initially been authorised as a three-month medical stay.
His return therefore brought to an end an unusual chapter that began with a court-approved medical trip and developed into a prolonged stay in Nigeria amid a continuing political and legal dispute in Sierra Leone.
