Governorship candidates of 13 political parties under the auspices of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) in Kwara State, yesterday, urged their supporters to vote for the incumbent Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed in Saturday's governorship election.

Addressing a press conference in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, the parties, numbering 13, explained that their endorsement of Ahmed, the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) was in the interest of the state.

16 political parties fielded candidates for the governorship election with three of the candidates considered as the major contenders for the election.

The governorship poll is expected to be a three-horse race among APC, PDP and the Labour Party.

Chairman of CNPP, Alhaji Adebayo Lawal, flanked by some of the governorship candidates, said they aligned with Ahmed to move the state forward. He said that it was imperative for the state to be in the mainstream of the nation's politics since the APC has won election at the national level with the emergence of General Mohammadu Buhari as the president-elect.

Being in the APC, said Lawal, the Chairman of Action Alliance (AA), would enable the state "recoup all the losses we have sustained under the punitive policies of the administration of the outgoing president in the last two years".