Nigeria, May 18 -- State governors are arguably more powerful within their domains than the President is at the federal level, simply because they hold the absolute keys to the local party structure, state resources, and the delegate system.

When Nigerians speak about power, they almost always speak in the language of distance, pointing instinctively toward Abuja as though authority in the country is concentrated in a single place and every major failure must therefore trace its origin to the Presidency. It is an understandable reflex, because the federal government is visible, loudly debated, and permanently in the national spotlight, yet this habit of interpretation often obscures a more decisive reality about how power actually opera...