Tofa was born in Kano on June 20, 1947. He had his primary education at Shahuci Junior Primary, Kano and then continued studies at City Senior Primary School in Kano. From 1962–1966, he attended Provincial College, Kano. After completing his studies at the Provincial school, he worked for Royal ExchangeInsurance company from 1967–1968. From 1970 to 1973, he attended City of London College. Tofa's sojourn into politics started in 1976 when he was a councilor of Dawakin Tofa Local Government Council, in 1977, he was elected a member into the Constituent Assembly. During the Nigerian Second Republic, Tofa was at various times the secretary of the Kano branch of NPN, 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 metarphosed to Liberal Convention when it was not registered as a political party, Tofa joined NRC in 1990. In 1993, when the Babangida administration introduced the Optain A4 system, Tofa was elected the presidential candidate representing Kano. During the party primaries, he defeated Pere Ajunwa, Joe Nwodo and Dalhatu Tafida to clinch the NRC ticket. At the time, he was an ally of Halilu Akilu, the security chief at the time. 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 personal friend of Babangida and 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. Tofa is also a businessman, an oil trader and industrialist. He was chairman of International Petro-Energy Company and Abba Othman and Sons ltd. He was also involved as a board member in Impex Ventures, Century Merchant Bank and General Metal Products ltd.
