ALHAJI Bashir Othman Tofa, remember him? How can you forget? He was the presidential candidate of the National Republican Convention, NRC, who lost the June 12, 1993 presidential election to the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Chief Moshood Abiola. He was the first Northerner to lose a presidential election to a Southerner, even though the election was not a regional battle.
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It was on June 12, 1993 that the Nigerian electorate made it clear that they would never again give the presidency to any candidate based on regional sentiments alone.
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The ruling class had hoped that the combination of Tofa's Muslim North and Dr Sylvester Ugoh's Christian Igbo was a winning formula.
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On the other hand, Abiola had as his running mate another Muslim, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe.
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Nigerians gave victory to the more popular pair without minding ethnic, religious and regional considerations.