BUHARI'S DEPUTY EMERGES MONDAY

Barring any last minute change of plans, the running mate to the Presidential candidate of the Congress of Progressive Change (CPC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, would emerge tomorrow.

Since Buhari emerged flag bearer of his party, the choice of the person to be his running mate had been a subject of controversy as several names were thrown up as possible alter ego for the April presidential race.

The speculation became intense especially with the reported ongoing talks between the CPC and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) where the former head of state is expected to be the flag bearer on the joint ticket.

Names of southern candidates like former Anambra governor, Dr. Chris Ngige; former Ekiti governor, Niyi Adebayo; as well as former Lagos governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. were initially pushed ahead. But the name of the pastor of Latter Rain Assembly and convener of the Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare, was the latest.

But Buhari's new spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, told newsmen in Lagos yesterday that, 'the running mate will be named on Monday,' adding: 'The person will not be a northerner or a Moslem. He will be a southern Christian.' The criteria effectively knock out all talks that the former Lagos governor might be named deputy to the former head of state.

Odumakin also declined to say if the person would be from the ACN as was initially planned.