Seven of the governorship aspirants who participated in the primary of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo state have now declared their support for Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

They are Morayo Lebi, Dayo Faduyile, Soji Ehinlanwo, Diran Iyantan, Mayowa Akinfolarin Funmilayo Waheed-Adekojo, and Jimi Odimayo.

They made their position known in a joint statement signed by the seven aspirants in Akure on Thursday.

The aspirants explained that their support for Mr Aiyedatiwa was in the interest of peace and the ruling party’s resounding victory in the state’s November 16 poll.

“The party position is that His Excellency Lucky Aiyedatiwa is our gubernatorial candidate, this position should be sacrosanct to us all even when some of us have expressed some reservations. We acknowledge that perfection is a moving target.

“As party leaders who have contributed significantly to nurturing the Party to impressive growth, we cannot allow anything that could lead to the polarisation of our Party with the potential consequence of undermining unity within our Party. We, therefore, call on our supporters and all stakeholders to put aside personal interests and allow the overriding interest of the party to take precedence.

“Victory for our Party in the upcoming November Governorship election is of paramount importance. We therefore call on all Party men and women to rally behind our party’s candidate – His Excellency Lucky Aiyedatiwa – henceforth to achieve outstanding victory,” they said in their statement.

The aspirants, however, called on their supporters, stakeholders and other aspirants who took part in the shadow election of the party to put aside personal interests and rally support for Aiyedatiwa to win the governorship election.

“We hereby appeal to other aspirants and members of our great party who are aggrieved to put aside their grievances in the larger interest of the party. We need everyone on board in the collective march toward victory.”

The seven aspirants are among the 16 party’s contenders who jostled for the governorship ticket with Mr Aiyedatiwa.

Mr Aiyedatiwa won the primary with 48,569 votes to beat the remaining 15 governorship aspirants in the exercise.