Plans are advancing for former President Ernest Bai Koroma to return from Nigeria, where he has lived since January 2024 while facing treason charges.

Sierraloaded understands that Parliamentary leaders from both the ruling and opposition parties are currently steering an initiative to bring him home. According to sources, the framework for his return involves the Attorney-General entering a olle prosequi —a formal notice to drop the treason charges currently held against the former president. Dropping these charges has reportedly been a central condition for Koroma’s return.

The agreement is believed to have been negotiated during President Julius Maada Bio’s recent visits to Nigeria and Ghana, involving regional diplomats invested in Sierra Leone’s stability. Parliament is expected to formally debate and vote on a resolution regarding his return in the coming days.

Koroma, who peacefully handed over power in 2018, left Freetown for Abuja in January 2024. While the government officially categorized his departure as a three-month medical leave, independent and diplomatic sources widely framed it as a political exit brokered by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to lower political temperatures.

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His departure took place under the shadow of criminal charges linked to an attempted coup on November 26, 2023.

Following President Bio’s disputed reelection in June 2023, tensions ran high in the country. On November 26, heavily armed gunmen attacked key security sites in Freetown, including the Wilberforce Barracks and the Pademba Road Correctional Centre.

The coordinated assault freed roughly 2,000 inmates and left 21 people dead, most of them soldiers. The Sierra Leonean government labeled the violence a failed coup.

Though Koroma publicly condemned the attacks, government investigators connected him to the violence through his associates, including a former close protection officer.

In December 2023, Koroma was placed under house arrest and interrogated. By January 3, 2024, he was indicted on four charges, including treason and misprision of treason (concealing knowledge of a treasonous act). Over 50 other individuals, including several military officers, were also arrested. Koroma has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

His case was last adjourned in July 2024 after he failed to appear in court.