President Muhammadu Buhari has described the late Alhaji Bashir Tofa as a true nationalist that would be difficult to replace.
The President, in a statement issued by his media aide, Garba Shehu, led the nation in mourning Tofa who was a promoter of Islamic culture and civilization that once ran as Presidential Candidate in a two-horse race.
The statement said the late Tofa was noted for his untiring commitment to public enlightenment and was unafraid to speak the truth all the time that he lived.
It added that the deceased set up the Bureau for Islamic Propagation, BIP in the mid-80s that helped to unite Muslim Scholars in the Northern States, thereby narrowing the differences that characterised their relationships, noting that the BIP also published books and newspapers.
In a tribute to the deceased, Buhari said: “He was, till the end, a patriot to the core. He envisaged a better Nigeria for all. We pray that this dream and collective aspiration and necessary commitment will not go with him. We owe it to his memory and to the nation”.
The President prayed to Allah to repose his soul and grant fortitude to the bereaved family and friends, the Kano Emirate Council as well as the government and people of Kano State to bear the loss.
Meanwhile, Buhari has dispatched a delegation to Kano with a condolence letter to the State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
The team is made up of the Ministers of Defence, Major-General Bashir Magashi (Rtd) and Water Resources, Engineer Sulaiman Adamu accompanied by the Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media and Publicity), Garba Shehu and the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris.
In his message, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar expressed his condolences over the death of the former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in the 1993 elections.
Atiku, in a press release signed by his media office in Abuja on Monday said the late Tofa was a thoroughbred democrat whose contributions to the growth of democratic governance in Nigeria is invaluable.
The former Vice President noted that throughout his political career, the late Tofa was a politician who believed in the power of ideas and ideologies and was never associated with political violence or any other anti-democratic behaviour.
The Waziri Adamawa, who was in touch with Tofa until his last days, stressed that the statesman and politician, who had been preoccupied with the state of affairs in Nigeria in recent times, and especially as it impacted the North, was a “balanced and incisive” personality.
According to him, “His (Tofa’s) style of politics and the panache with which he engaged political opponents will remain classical in Nigeria’s political history and are worthy of emulation by contemporary political actors and the future generations.”
Atiku also expressed his condolence to the bereaved families and associates of the late patriarch and political icon and the people and government of Kano State.
He prayed to the Almighty Allah to grant him Aljannah Firdaus.
Source:- Daily Trust
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