Former President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma has called on the general public to be calm as he honours an invitation from the Sierra Leone Police to report himself at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Freetown within 24 hours for questioning.
In a statement from Office of the Former President said: “I maintain an open mind and stand ready to support the police investigations to the fullest. Let the rule of law reigns supreme in our democracy.”
The former President’s call for calmness and a support of the law sounds like a disclaimer that whosoever is caught in any form of rudeness or unlawful protest will be doing that at his or her detriment.
The Police invited Mr. Koroma for questioning in relation to the failed attempted coup. According to the Army Chief of Staff, Patrick K. Lavahun most of the people involved in the failed coup are linked to the former president.
In his recent address to the nation, His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio assured that they will follow wherever the evidence leads and that who so ever is involved devoid of his/her status will face the full wrath of the law.
A statement issued by the Minister of Information and Civic Education, Chernor Bah said President Koroma was summoned by the Sierra Leone Police to report to the Criminal Investigation Department within 24 hours.
He said: “The former president is invited to assist the police in the ongoing criminal investigations into the November 26 failed attempted coup in Sierra Leone.”
The news came a day after an interfaith funeral service for 18 soldiers killed in the incident, when unknown gunmen attacked the country’s main military barracks and other strategic parts of the capital city.
On Wednesday past, the government released what it says is an image by surveillance placing one of the alleged top planners of the attack, Amadu Koita, to a scene on the day of the attack.
Koita who was reportedly detained earlier in the week is one of several former bodyguards of Former President Koroma accused of involvement in the alleged failed coup.