Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has run away from the country amid the lingering protests over the way he handled the country’s worst economic crisis since it gained independence in 1948.
In a recent statement, Sri Lankan Airforce confirmed that Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards boarded a Sri Lankan Air Force plane to Male, the capital of the Maldives.
The statement read: “Under the provisions of the Constitution and on a request by the government, the Sri Lanka Air Force provided a plane early today to fly the president, his wife and two security officials to the Maldives.”
An immigration official involved in the process said “their passports were stamped and they boarded the special air force flight.”
The president had pledged to resign and pave the way for a ‘peaceful transition of power’, after fleeing his official residence in Colombo before tens of thousands of protesters before his official residence was invaded.
As the country’s number one citizen, Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest, and it is widely believed that he wanted to go abroad before stepping down to avert the possibility of being detained.
Rajapaksa was elected president in 2019.
SUPPORT NIGERIAN CANADIAN NEWS
If you like our work and want to keep enjoying what we offer, kindly support us by donating to the Nigerian Canadian News through the button below.
