Do you know Bashir Tofa?

In the year 2014, I was in Florida when a call came in from the owner of a prominent Estate Agency firm in West Hampstead, he asked the above question. I responded that most Nigerians over a certain age would know of him because he ran for presidency in 1993, I however do not know him personally.

The agent gave a background of his interest in Bashir Tofa, his firm had been instructed to sell a property in a highbrow area of North West London, Brondesbury Park to be precise. This property was supposedly owned by Alhaji Tofa, the firm had a buyer who was ready to close on the transaction and everything suddenly went cold. The call was to help salvage the transaction, knowing my Nigerian background.

I asked the agent if he was sure that the instruction to sell was from the owner, he confirmed he had the passport data page of the owner and the name corresponds with the name on the title ie Othman Bashir Tofa. I requested to see this document as although I don’t know him personally I would recognise his face. He promptly sent the document he had and I didn’t require a magnifying glass to tell that it wasn’t Alhaji Tofa; the identification was forged.

This wasn’t the information the agent hoped for in the slightest. I reached out to 2 respectable gentlemen from Kano/Kaduna axis separately, if they knew him. Alhaji Umar Yahaya did and agreed with my scepticism and genuineness of the instruction, he pointed out that Alhaji traveled less this days and the property was usually empty and could be a target to fraudsters. He informed Alhaji Tofa and enquired if he was aware of this transaction, he wasn’t.?It was an attempted theft with the connivance of the caretaker.?

I conveyed the sad news to the agent, who promptly aborted the sale process.

Properties, especially when mortgage free are usually targeted by fraudsters. There are safeguards to protect your assets, or make it difficult to be easy targets.

Alhaji Bashir Tofa died yesterday age 74, he came into national prominence when he ran and lost for Presidency in 1993 as the flag bearer of The National Republican Convention against late Chief M.K.O Abiola. The election result was annulled and became a watershed moment that ultimately gave birth to the present democratic dispensation in Nigeria.

May his soul rest in peace.

Yemi Edun