Nigeria, Oct. 23 -- With the general elections only three months away, opposition politicians are becoming increasingly good at running in circles. They have fancy names for this waste of time: consultations, tours, deliberations and meetings. As soon as one round ends, another begins - all motion, no movement.

It is quite ironic that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which should be at its wit's end, is the party rallying a broad-based coalition and co-opting elements from opposition parties into a working alliance to retain power.

The trope in opposition circles is that the next general election is between APC and the Nigerian voters. This is a lazy assumption that not only ignores how ruling parties in Nigeria and elsewhere...