Despite denial by the Presidency that President Muhammadu Buhari has not dropped the Acting Chair of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, over a damaging DSS report that persuaded the Senate to volte-face on his confirmation, a reliable source in the Presidency has told our correspondent that Mr. Magu was all but gone.

The President was said to have shown palpable anger at the manner the Magu case was handled by his office and his liaison with the Senate. “The President was embarrassed by the manner the whole matter was handled. He is not happy that the DSS report was not laid on his table before Magu’s name was forwarded to the Senate. But one thing is clear to us now, Mr. Magu no longer enjoys the confidence of the President and he could be dropped any moment”, the source said.

News of Magu’s sack broke early Saturday but the Presidency was quick to refute it. Presidential Spokesman Garba Shehu wrote on his Facebook Page: “We are reading reports that the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu has been sacked. No report has been made available to the Presidency by the Attorney General of the federation over the matter. The report of his sack is therefore speculative and preemptive.”

EFCC Spokesman, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, however, denied the reports, saying it is “not true.”

But our correspondent reports that the news was leaked by persons said to be sympathetic of Magu as a way of staving off his imminent casting aside.  Recall that a similar script played out when the President first appointed Mr. Maikanti Baru as Group Managing Director of the NNPC. When the news leaked from the Presidency to the media, it was first refuted and action was stayed on the matter but the man was later, after several weeks, announced as the substantive GMD of NNPC.