Nigeria, May 19 -- In the lexicon of Nigerian politics, "structure" is spoken of as though it were a permanent monument, an immovable fortress built by veteran kingmakers and burgeoned over time through years of patronage, then handed down to political mentees like an ancestral estate. But as the ongoing party primaries have repeatedly shown, political structure in Nigeria is not an inherited monument. It is a rented apartment. And the moment a handpicked successor takes the oath of office, the sitting governor does not simply change the locks; he quietly begins to own the entire building from within.

What follows is rarely loud or dramatic at first. It unfolds in slow administrative shifts, almost imperceptible to those not watching cl...