'Lai Olurode People's votes symbolize a social contract between the electorates and their elected representatives, somewhat a promissory note which is to be converted or exchanged for social good in the short or the long run. The sanctity of the ballot must be preserved at all cost and informed choices must be made as the ballot is loaded with potential public goods. In my considered opinion, road transport workers as union(s) can serve a number of public purposes that are yet to be explored. The Nigerian state and its institutions have not partnered effectively enough with private transport workers. Private transport operators and their unions are indispensable to a country's integration and to its security. With the appalling state of public transportation in most of Africa, private operators hold the sway. Were the generality of people to rely mainly on the public sector for their transportation needs, most would experience severe unmet needs in the sphere of mobility of goods, services and people. The reference to the world as a global village is on account of the immense transformation and improvements in transportation network and technology that had bridged physical distances and spaces. Private motor parks are often a beehive of activities for travellers and they are high points of human convergence. Nigeria has a high percentage of youthful population, something in the range of 50%, who are perennially on the move in search of opportunities to improve their chances in life. This explains why criminal elements targeted the Nyanyan motor garage in Abuja, Nigeria for their dastardly acts on both 14th April, and 1st May, 2014. An average Nigerian will travel to work and other destinations by road and rarely neither by air nor rail. Even then, there are also severe limitations to road transportation because in 44 Understanding a'Power Broker': The Road Transport Workers Unions in the Context of Election Security all, Nigeria has only 193,200km of road. 1 Travel by air is constrained as Nigeria has just 17 private airlines with a total of less than 100 aircraft among them. Although, the super-rich now resorts to owning private jets, however, the number of private jet owners is currently put at 123. 2 The majority of Nigerians travel by road. Apart from its public purpose, private transporters are also a force to reckon with on ground of security. The unfortunate kidnap of the Chibok girls on 14th April, 2014 probably happened with the connivance of private transport sector operators. We have often heard stories of how okada riders commit atrocities which involve serious security breaches. Illegal trans-border movements and smuggling of people and goods cannot be accomplished without the cooperation of private sector transport operators. The key research question therefore is what is the place of private road transport workers in election logistics and election security? Threats to election security have remained an albatross of a kind in Nigeria's determined efforts to deliver on credible elections. Fears of safety of electoral personnel and election materials have not abated despite the several measures being put in place to mitigate them. There are also challenges with election logistics with incessant complaints about late arrival of election materials and thus the late commencement of polls which are also conflict triggers. When the series of workshops on security challenges of election management commenced in 2010, it was obvious that a science-driven approach to address election security challenges would begin to unfold. INEC­1 See www.trading.economics.com 8th May, 2014. 2 See www.newsexpressngr.com/news 24th July, 2014 45