The chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, Ekpo Nta, has not been sacked by the federal government, contrary to media reports on Wednesday morning, the www.icirnigeria.org can authoritatively report.

Reports in the media, mainly online news websites, indicated that Nta had been asked to go on compulsory leave, preparatory to his retirement.

According to a report in the Vanguard on Wednesday, the ICPC chairman had been directed, through a letter from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, to proceed on “compulsory leave beginning from today, October 26.”

However, when the www.icirnigeria.org spoke to the ICPC chairman at about noon on Wednesday, he said he was in the office and unaware of his sack.

Nta said that the information in the media reports is false but he declined making further comments on the matter, referring our reporter to the office of the Secretary to the Federal Government.

“I do not want to comment on this. I think it is easy to confirm the veracity of the story from the office of the Secretary to the Federal Government that is quoted as sending me a letter,” the ICPC chairman stated.

However, a source who is a senior official in the office of the SGF who spoke to our reporter on the condition of anonymity said that no letter had been issued from the office directing the ICPC chairman to proceed on terminal leave.

Reports about the sack of the ICPC chairman are common in the media, with the focus usually on when his tenure comes to an end. The latest media reports indicated that Nta was appointed as acting chairman of the anti graft agency in 2011 and that his tenure expires in November 2016.

In an interview earlier in the year, Nta told the www.icirnigeria.org that he became substantive chairman of the ICPC in 2012 and that his five year tenure ends in November, 2017.