A personal tribute to Bashir Tofa

BY AMIR ABDULAZEEZ

We have begun this new year on a very sad note following the death of one of Nigeria’s finest individuals, Bashir Othman Tofa. Aged 74, he died in Kano at a hospital after a brief illness. Tofa’s demise in the first week of 2022 means we have to carry on with this turbulent journey of returning Nigeria back to sanity, this time without one of its strongest pillars. But most importantly, it is another reminder to all that our days on earth are numbered and there will be a day to account for all our actions.

Late Bashir Othman Tofa, the former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention
(NRC) will easily enter the list of the top 100 greatest Nigerians of all time irrespective of the criteria
employed to make up the list. The only people that will argue against this are those who do not really have
knowledge of the type of life he lived and the diverse nature of lives he touched and then of course the young
people who don’t know much about him.

In Kano, Tofa sits top of the hierarchy of past and present most influential people in the history of the state. Kano has had many elders, politicians, and great men, but none was as unique as Tofa. When Late Yusuf Maitama Sule died in July 2017, I had one major fear of who would replace him and the calm wisdom he represented, not until I remembered Bashir Tofa. Today both are gone; May Allah have mercy on them. Before he died, Tofa was the chairman of the Kano Elders Forum.

Unlike many Nigerian statesmen, Bashir Tofa’s political journey was modest. His profile is not filled with
government positions and appointed portfolios. In fact, I can’t think of any other politician who managed to
reach the peak of the ladder without riding on the back of so many government positions. During Nigeria’s second republic, Tofa was at various times the secretary of the Kano branch of NPN before he later became
the party’s national financial secretary and was a national member of the Green Revolution National committee.

During the third republic, he was part of the Liberal Movement which metamorphosed into the Liberal Convention when it was not registered as a political party. He joined NRC in 1990. In 1993, Tofa was elected the presidential candidate representing Kano and later defeated 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 and an ally during the NPN days.

Indeed, his character, humility, and love for one Nigeria stood him out. This is reflected in his utterances. He
preached peace, love, justice, and tranquility. In 2011 when President Goodluck Jonathan was declared winner
of the presidential elections, Kano was one of the places where hell broke loose. Hooligans and hoodlums
were busy destroying everything that looked elitist irrespective of political affiliation. Some of these hoodlums
attacked and burnt a section of his house, reportedly destroying some of his properties in the process. He
ordered that nobody should maltreat the attackers.

Bashir Tofa was only concerned with the future of those youths and how they could be reformed as he blamed the decay in societal values for their actions. He said, if society had done its job properly, these attackers would probably be in school or workplaces, therefore, he pardoned them. He was an inspiration to the youth and always advised everyone on the need to maintain peace, law, and order. Being a man that always strived for orderliness, he set up the Bureau for Islamic Propagation in the mid-80s that helped to unite Muslim scholars in northern Nigeria, narrowing the differences that characterised their relationships.

I have for long had fears over the longevity of Bashir Tofa, although God has preserved him for much longer than my fears. I can’t really say why, but since the deaths of two principal June 12 actors, MKO Abiola /and Shehu Musa ‘Yaradua over 25 years ago, my worry was that Tofa would also go home someday, a reality I had never wanted to come to terms with. He survived much longer, but I wished some of his other June 12 compatriots had also lived long enough to witness the type of Nigeria we live in today. When we met in early 2021 at the funeral of his youngest brother, Abba Tofa, I had a reoccurrence of those fears.

Many people have misunderstood Tofa for a long time and some had only gotten the chance to truly know him from 15 years ago to date when he had focused less and less on politics and business and shifted his attention to private life, authorship, and philanthropy. Though he has been combining all throughout his life, he focused more on guiding society to the right path as he grew older. It is unfortunate that many people never had the opportunity to have a taste of his wisdom and calmness. But it is more unfortunate that some who had the opportunity of doing that did not utilise the opportunity.

In the wake of the balkanization of the Kano Emirate, Tofa made a last-minute attempt to save our heritage even when the governor would not listen to elders. It was reported that the Kano state house of assembly suspended the plenary session to see him when he visited. It was said that they received him quite well and treated him with the utmost respect while he appealed to them to ditch their plans. As destiny would have it, they went ahead to pass the law that disintegrated the long-standing emirate shortly after he left. After that, he said he has satisfied his conscience by doing his part.

Tofa is the type of elite you can only find in the most developed countries of the world. An elite in the class of Abraham Lincoln and the likes. He was the most organised Nigerian elite I have ever come across. A renowned politician, social and family leader, successful entrepreneur, vastly knowledgeable gentleman, erudite scholar, formidable statesman, and an intellectual author. Who will fill this vacuum? Perhaps there will never be another Bashir Tofa again.

Standing on his grave where he was buried in between his father and mother, I held back tears severally while thinking about the complexity of life and simplicity of death. Every other person around the cemetery not only wore a sad look but also an image of an uncertain future Bashir Tofa has had a successful life which impacted society at every stage.

He is indeed a hero and role model for all generations. He understood society quite well, he acknowledges its rot and the task required to fix it. I still remember Bashir Tofa’s simple campaign slogan when he ran for president: ‘Tofa is the Answer’. There was so much wisdom in the slogan; whatever are the problems, past and present, Tofa is the answer.

In primary school, we had so many MKO Abiola and SDP sympathizers in my primary six class. However, some weeks before the June 12 presidential elections, my classmates came to realise that Bashir Tofa was my grand uncle. Since that day, whenever I come in the morning, the routine chanting praising Tofa will fill the air. My class teacher enquired about the new development, when I explained to him, we laughed about it. He was supporting Abiola though, but whenever he sees me, he’ll jokingly say Tofa is the Answer.

Amir can be reached on Twitter @AmirAbdulazeez