A Kanuri Muslim from the northern state of Kano, Tofa was the National Republican Convention (NRC), candidate in the annulled Nigeria's 12 June 1993 presidential election, which was organised by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida.

During the party primaries, he defeated Pere Ajunwa, Joe Nwodo and Dalhatu Tafida to clinch the NRC ticket.

His running mate in the election was Sylvester Ugoh, an Igbo and a former governor of the now defunct central bank of Biafra.

He was chairman of International Petro-Energy Company (IPEC) and Abba Othman and Sons Ltd.[6] He was also involved as a board member in Impex Ventures, Century Merchant Bank and General Metal Products Ltd.

He authored several books in Hausa language, some of which are:[7] Tofa died at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital on 3 January 2022, at the age of 74.