'Lai Olurode are made to penetrate, unmask, and overcome these long-held prejudices, what is discerned is an association that is well organized and which respects the rule of law in its operations and which has immense influence on the political class and the electoral process. For us as an EMB, there are several gains that a formalized partnership with the union will facilitateone is that we can engage its members and sensitize them as to what can be done to mitigate violence and reduce the negative perception held by the public. Secondly, the union and its members can assist in resolving some of the perennial logistic challenges in election operations. With the enormity of the security challenges confronting our country today, partnership with the union will certainly assist in resolving some logistic logjam and security puzzles. An important issue for policy consideration by the Commission therefore is the need to formally engage the union leadership as a key stakeholder in discussions on election logistics and security as we move towards 2015. The Commission can simultaneously exploit the anticipated relationship to extend the frontiers of its voter education activities to the union as it helps the union to enlarge the scope of its democratic practices including the peaceful conduct of the union's elections. More importantly are the potentials of the union to contribute to public good. I have some convictions, through my interactions with some union members, 10 that the Commission can employ partnership with it to trigger the potentials of the union in this envisaged direction of contributing to public purpose. After all, every private organization that is profit driven can be made to contribute to the public good in ways that are reciprocal and mutually beneficial. 10 I had several telephone chats with the NURTW's secretary in Ekiti state, Joel Kolawole. Taiwo Gbadegesin INEC's Public Relations Officer in Ekiti state facilitated the interaction. 64 Chapter Four Drug Use and Elections Jadi Suleiman 4.1 Introduction Electoral process all over the world involves series of activities such as political party formation, registration, party convections, voters' registration, campaigns and election of candidates to various elective offices. Just like any activity requires good plan, co­ordination and management for hitch-free and successful outcome, for an election to be free of violence and successful, it requires the collaboration of relevant stakeholders such as the EMBs, security, and strategic government and non-government agencies. Therefore, I consider it as very imperative and necessary too to author this paper on the topic:'Drug Use and Election' which to me translates into illicit drug abuse and electoral violence usually witnessed in developing countries during election campaigns, voting and the post-election periods. This, in most cases, leads to threats to free, fair and credible elections in those countries. The issue of illicit drug abuse is a global plague affecting both the 'developed' and'developing' countries in the socio-economic and political sphere of their lives. As the production, distribution, sales and consumption of these illicit drugs continue to afflict our communities and plague our nations, researchers have continued to indicate that illicit drug abuse precipitates criminal activities and the need for a solution to eradicate the menace cannot be over emphasized. 65