A former presidential candidate of defunct National Republican Convention, NRC, in the June 12, 1993 election, Bashir Othman Tofa is dead.
Tofa was the opponent of the late Social Democratic Party, SDP, candidate, MKO Abiola who is presumed to have won the election.
The June 12, 1993 presidential election was however annulled by the military before declaration of the final result leading to the what is often described as “aborted Third Republic”.
Then Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida while “stepping aside set up the Interim National Government under Ernest Shonekan in August of that year but by November it was overthrown by General Sani Abacha.
An indigene of Kano State in North-West Nigeria, Tofa who was born to a Kanuri family on June 20, 1947, started his political career in 1976 and was elected as councilor in Dawakin Tofa Local Government.
He was later elected as member of the Constituent Assembly in 1977 and was one of the delegates to draft the 1979 Constitution of the Second Republic. He was at various times the Secretary of the Kano State Chapter of the defunct National Party of Nigeria, NPN, and later became its National Financial Secretary and member of the Green Revolution National Committee that anchored the agricultural policy of the President Shehu Shagari administration.
In the aborted Third Republic, he joined the NRC in 1990 after his Liberal Convention was not registered as a political party. Under the Option A4 system introduced by the Babangida military regime, Tofa was elected the presidential candidate representing Kano State.
He was an ally of then security chief, Halilu Akilu, and at the party’s primaries, he defeated Pere Ajunwa, Joe Nwodo and Dalhatu Tafida to clinch the party’s presidential ticket to challenge MKO Abiola on June 12, 1993.
Tofa until his death was reported to be critically ill.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
