Roland Ewubare, chief operating officer of joint ventures and business development at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has submitted a letter of resignation to the country’s oil firm, on Friday, leaving the corporation in limbo.

Ewubare, who hails from Nigeria’s South-South region, walked away from one of the top management positions at the NNPC on Friday, citing family reasons for an abrupt departure.

He has debunked claims that he resigned due to feud with the management of the corporation.

” The GMD (Mele Kyari) is my very close friend and ally. He has been super supportive. I’m leaving to return to my family in the United States, he said Friday night.

“I have been in NNPC for five years mostly away from them. With the pandemic, I can’t travel to visit them and they can’t come to visit me. It’s tough. At the core, I’m a family man. Stepping down solely for personal family reasons. That’s the truth.”

It was also not immediately clear what the corporation’s next step would be as the resignation was abrupt, according to officials of the state oil firm.

“He is unreachable. We are clueless on this (resignation) and the reasons,” a senior leader said.