The immediate-past managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, is dead. He passed at the age of 60.

Baru’s death was confirmed in a current tweet by his successor the incumbent GMD of the corporation, Mele Kyari, indicating that he died last night.

In the tweet, Kyari said: “My brother, my friend and my mentor, Dr Maikanti Kachalla Baru, immediate past GMD of NNPC died late last night. He was of exemplary character and disposition. May Allah forgive him and have mercy upon him.”

Reports indicate that Baru died around 1am on Saturday at an Abuja hospital after a brief illness.