Senate, yesterday, faulted a story published on the front page of a newspaper (not The Guardian), headlined, ‘First Time in 22 Years of Democracy, Senate Goes Against Agreement with Sitting President’.

It dismissed the report as either the opinion of the writer or of the newspaper, saying it failed the true test of news reportage.

According to the Senate, it was the more reason the story was not credited to anyone but to some faceless ‘analysts’, nameless ‘pundits’ and unknown ‘sources’.

Reacting in his office at the National Assembly in Abuja, Senator Ajibola Basiru, who is Chairman of Media Committee and Public Affairs of the Senate, said: “The story is the opinion of newspaper on the issue of the amendment and not anything close to a news report.

“The Senate is not aware of any agreement with the executive arm of government or Mr. President that the amendment to the Electoral Act should take a particular course.”

Basiru, therefore, challenged the newspaper to produce the said agreement whether orally or by documentation.

He added: “At best, the story is self-seeking or an attempt to set an agenda on the nation’s polity. And this could be reckless and irresponsible because the Senate has made her decision known on the amendment.”