Politics
Former presidential candidate of NRC, Bashir Tofa, is dead
A former presidential candidate in the June 12, 1993 election, Bashir Othman Tofa, has been reported dead on Monday.
A family source who confirmed the report said the elder statesman died in the early hours of Monday after a protracted illness.
Tofa contested the presidential seat on the platform of the defunct National Republican Convention, NRC alongside his opponent, late Chief Moshood Abiola.
During the party primaries, he defeated Pere Ajunwa, Joe Nwodo and Dalhatu Tafida to clinch the NRC ticket. His running mate in the election was Sylvester Ugoh, an Igbo and a former governor of the now defunct central bank of Biafra.
The election was annulled by the former Nigeria Military head of state, Ibrahim Babangida.
Tofa was born in Kano to a Kanuri family on June 20, 1947. He had his primary education at Shahuci Junior Primary, Kano and then continued studies at City Senior Primary School in Kano. From 1962 to 1966, he attended Provincial College, Kano.
After completing his studies at the Provincial school, he worked for Royal Exchange Insurance company from 1967 to 1968. From 1970 to 1973, he attended City of London College. Tofa’s sojourn into politics started in 1976 when he was a councillor of Dawakin Tofa Local Government Council, in 1977, he was elected a member into the Constituent Assembly.
During the Nigerian Second Republic, Tofa was at various times the secretary of the Kano branch of NPN, he later became the party’s national financial secretary and was a national member of the Green Revolution National Committee.
During the Third Republic, he was part of the Liberal Movement which metamorphosed to Liberal Convention when it was not registered as a political party, Tofa joined NRC in 1990.
