A former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in the 1993 election, Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa is dead.
A source within the family of the deceased, Alhaji Muhammad said Bashir Tofa who contested against Alhaji Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola, popularly known as MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the controversial June 12, 1993 presidential election died after a brief illness in the early hours of Monday at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.
Tofa was born in June 20, 1947. He was a businessman and industrialist and chairman of International Petro-Energy Company (IPEC) and Abba Othman and Sons ltd.
He attended Shahuci Junior Primary, Kano for his primary education and studied at City Senior Primary School, also in Kano. He further his education at Provincial College, Kano and graduated in 1966. He was later admitted to City of London College in 1970.
Tofa worked for Royal Exchange Insurance company from 1967 to 1968 and in 1976 became a councilor of Dawakin Tofa Local Government Council. In 1977, he was elected a member into the Constituent Assembly.
Alhaji Bashir Tofa joined NRC in 1990 during General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida’s administration. In 1993, when the Babangida administration introduced the Option A4 system, Tofa was elected the presidential candidate.
