A former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention in the 1993 election, Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa, is dead.
Tofa reportedly died after a brief illness in the early hours of Monday at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano.
The late politician was born in June 20, 1947.
Recall that in the 1993 presidential election, he contested against late Chief Moshood Abiola of the Social Democratic Party, who won the election.
The Ibrahim Babangida military regime annulled the election, sparking nationwide protests.
Tofa was a businessman, oil trader and industrialist.
He was the chairman of International Petro-Energy Company and Abba Othman and Sons Limited.
He was also involved as a board member in Impex Ventures, Century Merchant Bank and General Metal Products Limited.
Tofa 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.
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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 Second Republic, Tofa was the Secretary of the Kano branch of the National Party of Nigeria.
He later became the party’s National Financial Secretary and was a National Member of the Green Revolution National Committee.
Tofa joined the NRC in 1990.
In 1993, when the Babangida administration introduced the Option A4 system, Tofa was elected the presidential candidate.
During the party primaries, he defeated Pere Ajunwa, Joe Nwodo and Dalhatu Tafida to clinch the NRC ticket.
He was an ally of Halilu Akilu, the security chief at the time.
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.
