The campaign organisation of the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Oyo State, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, has explained the circumstances surrounding a viral video showing a student of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, sitting on the politician’s lap.
The footage, which circulated on social media, showed Alli interacting with the student during a visit to his campaign office in Mokola, Ibadan.
The campaign organisation said the student was among a group of students from the institution’s Department of Banking and Finance who visited Alli to invite him to their programme and conduct an interview with him.
According to the campaign team, the students arrived when there were not enough seats to accommodate everyone present.
It explained that Alli asked one of the students to sit on his lap so the interaction and interview could continue.
The organisation also acknowledged that the video had generated reactions online, particularly after Alli was seen briefly touching the student’s lap.
However, it rejected interpretations suggesting that the interaction had any sexual undertone, describing such claims as misleading and politically driven.
“The number of people present exceeded the available seating capacity, leaving insufficient chairs for everyone,” the campaign organisation stated.
It described Alli’s action as a “spontaneous and fatherly gesture”, insisting that there was no improper motive behind it.
The organisation further criticised what it called attempts to deliberately portray the encounter in a negative light.
“It is deeply unfortunate that political desperation has descended to this level, where an ordinary interaction between a fatherly political leader and students who came to seek support for their programme is deliberately twisted into something sordid,” it said.
The campaign team maintained that Alli had a cordial relationship with young people and urged the public not to attach inappropriate meanings to the footage.
“Those who know Senator Sharafadeen Alli understand his disposition towards young people and his fatherly relationship with them. There is no basis whatsoever for the offensive insinuations being attached to this video,” it added.
It also appealed to media organisations and social media users to exercise caution when reporting the incident, warning against the use of sensationalism and innuendo in interpreting online videos.
The campaign organisation described the controversy as “cheap political blackmail” and urged voters to focus on issues such as competence, development, policies and the welfare of Oyo State residents ahead of the 2027 governorship election.
