From North East with good tidings, by Femi Adesina

• Published date: 13 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has returned to Nigeria from the United Kingdom.

The visit according the Atiku centered on critical meetings connected to his presidential ambition.

Ex-presidential aide, Reno Omokri, shared the video of Atiku's arrival on his verified Twitter page early Friday.

In the video seen by The Nation, Atiku was in company with Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel; Sokoto Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; former Kogi Senator, Dino Melaye; former National PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus; erstwhile Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka; former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his aides.

I was in two States in the region early this week, joining President Muhammadu Buhari to take part in campaigns of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the forthcoming general elections.

First port of call was Adamawa on Monday, leaving later in the day for Yobe, where we stayed the night, and spent most part of Tuesday. And what did we hear at every stop? Plaudits, accolades, commendation for the President on the much improved security situation in the region.

There are some people hellbent on giving us a siege mentality of insecurity in the country. They have deliberately refused to look at the brighter side of things, and all you hear from them is 'worsening insecurity.' That's all they say on TV, radio, on social media, in newspapers, from the pulpits, mosques, anywhere, everywhere. They deliberately make it seem that the only thing happening in Nigeria is insecurity, they keep trumpeting it daily, even when confronted by vast improvements. They are soused and marooned in scaremongering.

But who feels it knows it. Ask people in the North East, and they will have stories to tell you, of how their very homes, schools, hospitals, local government headquarters, palaces of emirs, had been seized by insurgents, who were calling the shots from those places. And how a certain battle-tested retired General Buhari came, took the war to the army of occupation, and flushed them out.

One of the most poignant stories we heard during the trip was at the palace of the Emir of Damaturu, Hashimi 11 El Kanemi. Governor Mai Mala Buni recounted how the palace was overrun by insurgents, and everybody ran for dear lives. He told the President:

'Yobe is one of the States you liberated from the clutches of Boko Haram terrorists. Before, in this very Palace, if you placed one billion dollars on the table, and you asked someone to come and...