Lawan, Yakasai, Lamido, Umahi eulogise Tofa

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; elder statesman, Tanko Yakasai; Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi; and former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido have eulogised the presidential candidate of defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in 1993, Bashir Tofa, who passed on Monday.

Lawan, in a condolence message, yesterday, by his Special Adviser on Media, Ola Awoniyi, commiserated with the government and people of Kano State on the politician’s demise.

Also condoling with Tofa’s friends and associates, the senate president described the death of the “astute politician” as a great loss to the country. He prayed God to forgive his sins, accept his soul and console those he left behind.

Yakasai, on his part, extolled the sterling leadership qualities of the Kano-born politician, as well as the former Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Gambo Jimeta, who passed on during the Yuletide.

He noted: “Bashir (Tofa) was an extremely friendly person who died at a very unforgettable time for any human being to lose his life. Though it was the late Ibrahim Waziri that introduced the famous political saying siyasa ba da gaba ba, Tofa was one of the politicians who gave that saying a practical meaning.”

Umahi described Tofa as a liberal statesman of broad political philosophy, who desired a peaceful nation, where equity and justice prevail.

In a statement in Abakaliki, yesterday, to commiserate with the government and people of Kano, the governor noted that the late politician was an accomplished industrialist, who invested selflessly in humanity.

Lamido expressed deep sympathy with the family, friends, Kano and Nigeria at large over the death of Tofa. He particularly lamented the vacuum his death has created in the effort to resolve the seeming division in Northern Nigeria.

Lamido, in a personal message made available to The Guardian, yesterday, said: “When the idea of forming the Abuja Roundtable, the parent body of AR Chatroom, was mooted by Dr. Bello Halliru, Mahmoud Yayale, Attahiru Bafarawa, Tanimu Turaki, Adamu Waziri, Ibrahim Shema, Ahmed Makarfi, Lawal Batagarawa and myself, I was mandated to invite Tofa to join us.”

“Bashir was my good friend and I have read quite a number of books he authored, especially the History of the Prophets in Islam, which are extremely educating and illuminating, thus my fondly calling him Ustaz!

“He told me he was writing another 500-page book on Islam and promised that I would be the first to receive a copy. Allahu Akbar, he never lived to fulfil that wish!”