Former Nigeria’s Presidential Candidate, Bashir Tofa, Dies
Former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in Nigeria in the aborted 1993 Third Republic, Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa, has been confirmed dead.
He died in the early hours of Monday due to ill health, a family source confirmed on Monday after he was rumoured to have died on Friday.
Funeral prayers was held for the late politician at 9.00am at his residence at Gandun Albasa in Kano metropolis.
The late politician and businessman, who was born in June 1947, was also the chairman of Kano Elders Forum.
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.
In 1993, when the Babangida administration introduced the Option A4 system, Tofa was elected the party’s presidential candidate. 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. Both were members of the defunct National Party of Nigeria.
Tofa was apparently defeated in the presidential election by his rival Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, but the official results were never released by Babangida’s government.
Tofa is also a businessman, an oil trader and industrialist. He was chairman of International Petro-Energy Company (IPEC) and Abba Othman and Sons Ltd. He was also involved as a board member in Impex Ventures, Century Merchant Bank and General Metal Products Ltd.
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