Sierra Leone’s former president Ernest Bai Koroma, charged for his alleged role in what authorities call an attempted coup, left the country and arrived in Nigeria on Friday.

Koroma landed in Abuja on Friday afternoon, welcomed by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu and the president of the ECOWAS Commission Omar Alieu Touray.

Nigeria had previously offered to allow the ex-president to enter temporarily, which he accepted.

The 70-year-old, who led the West African nation from 2007 to 2018, received permission from judicial authorities on Wednesday to spend a maximum of three months in Nigeria for medical treatment.

Current president Julius Maada Bio called the court’s decision a “humanitarian gesture” during an address to the nation on Thursday evening.

Koroma’s adviser Sheriff Mahmud Ismail had said earlier that the former head of state boarded a Nigerian Air Force plane, without specifying the flight’s destination.

Mr. Koroma

Sierra Leone’s High Court earlier this week authorized the ex-president to undergo medical treatment in Nigeria “for the most three months from the date of this order and (on condition) that his sureties should provide regular medical updates, signed and duly authorized”.

Koroma, who has effectively been under house arrest since December 9, was charged in early January with four offences including treason concerning the events in late 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.

Mr. Koroma

Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, has appealed to Nigerians to give President Bola Tinubu’s administration more time to fix the economy.

Mr Uzor-Kalu, a former chief whip of the Senate, acknowledged that Nigerians were going economic hardship.

The senator spoke on Tuesday in Koli-Edda in Afikpo South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State when he visited the chairperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi State, Stanley Okoro-Emegha.

Mr Kalu, a former Abia State governor, said Mr Tinubu was working hard to reposition the country’s economy and restore its lost glory, adding that Nigerians should give the president time.

“The APC government is cutting the cloth into pieces. Before you sew a cloth you will first cut it into pieces; so, Tinubu is busy cutting the cloth into pieces.

“So, give us another three years or two years; people are suffering. We understand that, give us more two years for the cloth we want to sew to be sewn very well,” Mr Kalu said.

The senator spoke on why the National Assembly added billions of naira to the 2024 budget.

“We said that we are going to do a census and Nigeria has put several billions of naira in planning for the national census in 2023, and if we did not vote money for the conduct of the exercise, Nigeria will be losing about N289 billion,” he said.

The senator urged Nigerian youths to be agents of positive change, by shunning social vices and any act that is capable of breaching the peace and security of the country.

The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has directed the Director, Department of Development Control to ensure that Nuwalege community, along the Airport Road gives way for the presidential fleet plot.

The directive follows the request from the Nigerian Air Force.

Speaking through the Director, Tpl Mukhtar Galadima during a community and citizen engagement on Tuesday in Abuja, the minister hinted that, it becomes imperative that the community give way for development

According to him, “About a month ago, the authority of the Nigerian Air Force wrote to the honourable minister on their needs and desire to remove this village, because it is part of the presidential fleet plots.

“So, the minister in his wisdom requested them to allow the FCT administration to handle it, because it’s the responsibility of FCT administration. The Nigerian Air Force approached the Department of Development Control on their desire.

“So, as part of our responsibility, we have to do what you call a community and citizens engagement which is why we are here today to discuss with the community and to tell them of our intention, because it will be unfair to just bring the machine here and start removing their houses.

“So, we visited the chiefs at his palace to meet him and we told him our reason for coming to this place today”.

Speaking on the number of houses that will be demolished, Galadima hinted that about 150 to 200 houses with additional commercial stores that are attached to these houses will be removed.

While fielding questions from newsmen on the issue of compensating the affected natives, he said “We will discuss with the Air Force, because obviously discussion behind the scene indicates that some forms of compensation were paid, but we have to be certain that this compensation actually were paid, and also who was really given this compensation.

“We are going to conduct further investigation between FCT administration, that’s the Department of Resettlement and Compensation, as well as the Nigerian Air Force and find out if compensation has been paid, to who and When?

“And then we will discuss with our colleague at the Department of Resettlement and Compensation whether at any point in time, there was any compensation that ascertained their claims as regard to the number of structures and people that are going to be affected by this expansion project.”

He added, “There are certain things that we have to look into with consideration like the security, because obviously, this part of some of this settlement is where you have some of these people of the underworld trying to disguise and hide.

“And looking at this, Air Force formation, which is the presidential fleet, is too close , for this thing to co-habit. So we will see if there is that urgent desire to remove part of this community, we will do it.

“So, we have to do some community engagement. It is not the entire community because we have gone around and we have seen the areas affected by the presidential fleet plot and the areas that are outside that plot.”

Speaking of the expectations of the village chief, Galadima said, “At least we have given him the respect as a high class person. We have discussed and informed him why we are here and we are coming back again for a wider consultation, involving the Nigerian Air Force, our colleagues, and then the community heads. So I think we have done the needful by engaging them adequately.’’

Facts have emerged on how the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seized the $760,910.84 that Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State paid to American International School, Abuja, as prepaid school fees for four children until graduation, over alleged money laundering.

Documents obtained by Sahara Reporters on Thursday show that Governor Bello through his nephew, Mr Ali Bello had entered an agreement with the school to pay tuition for his four children up to graduation in advance to secure their future.

The agreement was signed and executed on August 23, 2021. Following the execution of the agreement, a total of $845.852.84 was paid into the school account in varied instalments.

However, the anti-corruption agency as part of its oversight function, subsequently invited the school authorities for a series of interviews connected with the funds through a letter dated September 7, 2023, after about one year.

Sources told Sahara Reporters that during the interrogation of officials of the school, the EFCC noted that the advanced school fees were proceeds of crime. It said that the school was being used as an unwitting money laundering tool and demanded that it should refund the monies to the agency through a dedicated account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“During the interviews, the EFCC further informed the school authorities that the commission was empowered to seize the total funds or any portion thereof.

“Following a review of the academic history of Governor Bello’s children with the school, the EFCC accepted that fees paid in relation to ongoing school sessions at the time did not amount to proceeds of crime and exempted the sum of $84.942.00. “Subsequently, the commission made a demand for transfer of the of $760.910.84, representing advance tuition payment to its nominated account with the Central Bank of Nigeria,” documents obtained by Sahara reporters show.

Following the development, the school management wrote a letter dated October 27, 2022, to the EFCC, requesting an official written demand for the refund of the monies, but the anti-graft agency provided an account to which the monies should be paid.

The school first paid $1,000 and later paid the remaining $759,91084 to the account.

Meanwhile, Ali Bello is being prosecuted by the EFCC over a N3 billion fraud.

Bello was arraigned in February alongside others at the Federal High Court on 18 counts of money laundering and misappropriation of about N3 billion.

The other co-defendants are Abba Adauda, Yakubu Adabenege, and Iyada Sadat. Another defendant, Rashida Bello, is at large.

The Senate on Thursday confirmed the nomination of 11 new Justices of the Supreme Court.

Their confirmation followed the consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.

The Senate approved the recommendation of the committee, which screened the nominees.

The report was presented before the Senate by Borno North Senator and chairman of the committee, Senator Mohammed Monguno.

President Bola Tinubu had on Wednesday, 20th December, asked the Senate to confirm the 11 nominees.

The nominees were recommended by the National Judicial Council, NJC, to fill vacant positions that arose as a result of the death and resignation of some Justices of the Supreme Court.