The all-powerful PDP, relying on its control of the security agencies, the considerable oil revenues to which the president and his retinue had untrammeled access, and an intricate patronage network radiating through the local councils of Nigeria’s 36 states, seemed set to govern indefinitely. Elections had become a hollow ritual, matters of public policy were not important campaign issues, and the opposition was divided, poorly funded, and unable to devise a strategy to cut the PDP juggernaut to size.