Bashir Tofa

Who is Bashir Tofa?

Bashir Othman Tofa is a Nigerian politician. A Hausa Muslim who hails from Kano State, Tofa was the National Republican Convention candidate in the annulled Nigeria's June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was organised by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida.

Before his sojourn into politics, Alhaji Tofa was a businessman, oil trader and an industrialist. 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, a Yoruba from southwest Nigeria, but the official results were never released by Babangida's government. Babangida was forced to step down in August 1993 after protests calling for the results of the election.