OBITUARY: Bashir Tofa, Ace Banker who Challenged MKO in 1993
By Adnan Mukhtar Tudunwada
POLITICS DIGEST– Everything in life is all about time. There is a time to come, a time to grow and a time to go.
He was a brilliant chap who grew quite early. A foremost grassroots mobilizer, he won election as Councilor in his ward, in his 20s.
He was larger than life; a man of many parts; a Jack of all Trade and master of all. He was an investment banker, industrialist and philanthropist, and also a politician of repute.
Bashir Othman Tofa was born in Kano to a Kanuri family on June 20, 1947. He had his primary education at Shahuci Junior Primary, Kano and then continued his studies at City Senior Primary School in Kano.
From 1962 to 1966, he attended Provincial College, Kano. 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.
In 1976, Bashir Tofa ventured into politics. He contested and won the councilor of Dawakin Tofa Local Government Council in 1976 and later as a member of the Constituent Assembly.
During the Nigerian Second Republic, Tofa was at various times the secretary of the Kano branch of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). He later became the party’s national financial secretary and was a national member of the Green Revolution National Committee.
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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 the National Republican Convention (NRC) in 1990.
In 1993, Tofa was elected the party’s presidential candidate, defeating 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 NPN in the Second Republic.
Tofa was convincingly defeated in the presidential election by his rival, MKO Abiola, of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He also lost to the latter in his home state of Kano.
Tofa was also a shrewd businessman. 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.
A brilliant lover of Literature, 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).
Tofa passed on in the early hours of Monday at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) after a brief illness. He has since been buried at the Hajj Camp Cemetery, in Kano according to Islamic rites.
A complete family man, Tofa was married with six children.
