Former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), Alhaji Bashir Tofa died on Monday.
He died at 74 at a hospital in the Kano metropolis.
Here are 10 things to know about Bashir Tofa:
The late Tofa contested against the Social Democratic Party (SDP) flagbearer, Chief MKO Abiola in the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election.
Born in June 1947, Tofa was also the Chairman of the Kano Elders Forum and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress.
Late Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa was born in Kano to a Kanuri family on June 20, 1947He had his primary education at Shahuci Junior Primary, Kano and then continued studies at City Senior Primary School in Kano.
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.
He joined NRC in 1990. In 1993, Tofa was elected the presidential candidate representing Kano, later 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, both were members of the defunct National Party of Nigeria.
When the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), honored Abiola with Nigeria’s highest honour, GCFR, Tofa said he wouldn’t have accepted it if he was given the award.
In 2018, when Buhari declared also June 12 as the new date for the celebration of Nigeria’s Democracy Day, Tofa called for a “reconsideration”, saying it was a product of “sentiment and politics”.
He authored eight books in Hausa, which include: Tunaninka Kamanninka (The way you think reflects in your character), Kimiyyar Sararin Samaniya (Space science), Kimiyya da Al’ajaban Al-Kur’ani (The science and wonders of the Qur’an), Gajerun Labarai (Short stories), Amazadan a Birnin Aljanu (Amazadan in the land of the spirits), Amazadan da Zoben Farsiyas (Amazadan and Farsiyas ring), Rayuwa Bayan Mutuwa (Life after death), and Mu Sha Dariya (Let us laugh)
