Abuja, Nigeria — Former Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma paid a courtesy visit on Tuesday, 4 August 2026, to the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, at the regional body’s newly inaugurated permanent headquarters in Abuja.
Dr. Touray warmly received the former head of state. The two held cordial discussions centred on regional cooperation, peace, and democratic governance in West Africa.
The meeting reaffirmed the long-standing relationship between Koroma and ECOWAS and underscored their shared commitment to regional integration and collaboration among member states.
The visit comes shortly after Koroma attended the ECOWAS Mid-Year Summit (the 69th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government) held in Lungi, Sierra Leone, on 19 July 2026. That summit, hosted under the chairmanship of Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, focused on the future of regional integration, security, infrastructure, food security, and other priorities. Bio handed over the ECOWAS chairmanship to Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye during the gathering.
Koroma’s participation in the Lungi meetings followed the Sierra Leone government’s decision in mid-July 2026 to discontinue all criminal charges against him related to the alleged failed coup attempt of 26 November 2023. The charges, which had included treason and misprision of treason, were formally dropped by the Attorney-General under Section 45 of the Criminal Procedure Act. Parliament later endorsed the move as part of efforts toward national cohesion and reconciliation.
The former president, who has consistently denied any involvement in the 2023 incidents, had been living in temporary relocation in Abuja since January 2024 under an ECOWAS-brokered arrangement that allowed him to leave Sierra Leone for medical treatment and to help ease political tensions. With the legal proceedings discontinued, he is now free to return home permanently.
The engagement between Koroma and Touray also highlighted the enduring partnership between Sierra Leone and ECOWAS, as well as the continuing role that former heads of state can play in advancing regional dialogue, peacebuilding, and democratic governance across West Africa. The new ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja, commissioned in early July 2026 with support involving Nigeria and China, provided the setting for the meeting.
Koroma served as President of Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2018. Dr. Touray, a Gambian diplomat, has led the ECOWAS Commission since July 2022; his four-year term is scheduled to conclude later in 2026, with Senegal’s General Birame Diop named as his successor.
