The former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), Bashir Tofa, is dead. Tofa died in the early hours of Monday at the age of 74.
A close relative of the deceased who confirmed the news to Channels Television said Tofa died at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital after a protracted illness.
Tofa was the presidential candidate of the NRC in the June 12, 1993 election. During the election, Tofa squared off against MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the presumed winner of the election. But the Babangida regime annulled the election.
Although the official results of the election were never released by Babangida’s government, Tofa was apparently defeated in the presidential election by his rival Moshood Abiola. Babangida was forced to step down in August 1993 after protests calling for the results of the election.
Born in Kano on June 20, 1947, Mr Tofa had his primary education at Shahuci Junior Primary, Kano, and continued at City Senior Primary School in Kano. From 1962 to 1966, he attended Provincial College, Kano.