Former Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma returned to Freetown on Sunday, greeted by government officials and supporters after spending more than two years in Nigeria following the withdrawal of treason charges against him. His arrival at Lungi International Airport was accompanied by Nigerian former president Olusegun Obasanjo and Nigerian Foreign Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, underscoring the diplomatic role Nigeria played in facilitating his return. "Today I have come back home and I'm happy," Koroma told journalists, smiling, as he was welcomed by Sierra Leone's Foreign Minister Mohamed Rahman Swarray and officials from his party, the opposition All People's Congress (APC).

Koroma, who led Sierra Leone — a small West African nation bordered by Guinea and Liberia — from 2007 to 2018, had been charged with treason in connection with a violent coup attempt in November 2023. During that uprising, armed attackers stormed military barracks, a weapons armoury, two prisons and two police stations, killing 21 people and freeing roughly 2,200 inmates. Authorities accused Koroma of involvement in the plot, allegations he and his lawyers vigorously denied, calling the charges politically motivated and "trumped up." A Sierra Leonean high court permitted him to travel to Nigeria for three months on medical grounds in early 2024, but he remained there for over two years. Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, who announced Koroma's departure on social media, said he and others had "worked quietly" to encourage dialogue and create the conditions for a "safe and dignified return."

Sierra Leone's Attorney-General Alpha Sasay formally discontinued the criminal proceedings in July, removing the case from the court's docket and ending Koroma's bail conditions with immediate effect. No official reason was given for the decision. Koroma had briefly visited the country that same month during a summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), attending at the invitation of current President Julius Maada Bio. Two dozen soldiers and Koroma's former bodyguard had already been sentenced to prison terms of between 50 and 100 years by a military court for their roles in the mutiny.

The case unfolded against a backdrop of political tension following Sierra Leone's disputed 2023 elections, in which President Bio secured a second term. Koroma's homecoming is widely seen through a political lens, with presidential elections scheduled for 2028. His return — marked by the presence of senior Nigerian figures and a warm official reception — signals a significant de-escalation, though the underlying tensions that fuelled the crisis remain part of Sierra Leone's contested political landscape.