Nigeria, March 30 -- Over the weekend, the All Progressives Congress (APC) held its national convention, a gathering that, on paper, followed a familiar script. Earlier congresses at the sub-national level, from states to local governments and wards, had been conducted with little friction, largely due to the party's adoption of a consensus arrangement that returned many incumbent officeholders. In most states, it was a seamless process.

The national convention did not deviate much from that pattern. The directive had gone out: most executives were to return unchallenged. Contests were minimal, opposition even rarer.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, described the convention as a defining moment for t...