The campaign organisation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) 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 his lap.
The campaign team said the incident occurred when a group of students from the institution’s Department of Banking and Finance visited Alli at his campaign office in Mokola, Ibadan.
According to the campaign organisation, the students had gone to invite the APC candidate to their programme and conduct an interview with him.
In a statement issued on Wednesday and published on its website, the campaign team said the number of students and other people present exceeded the available seating capacity at the office.
It explained that, with insufficient chairs for everyone, Alli asked one of the students to sit on his lap so that the interview could continue.
The explanation came after a video of the encounter circulated widely on social media, generating reactions over the interaction between the politician and the student.
In the footage, Alli was also seen briefly touching the student’s lap, a gesture that prompted varying interpretations among social media users.
The campaign team rejected suggestions that the encounter had any inappropriate or sexual undertone, accusing some online platforms of deliberately misrepresenting the incident for political reasons.
It described Alli’s action as a “spontaneous and fatherly gesture” made in the course of interacting with the students.
“The number of people present exceeded the available seating capacity, leaving insufficient chairs for everyone,” the campaign team said.
It further criticised what it described as attempts to portray the interaction 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,” the statement said.
The campaign organisation maintained that Alli is known for his relationship with young people and urged members of the public not to attach inappropriate meanings to the video.
“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 stated.
The team also appealed to media organisations and social media users to exercise caution and responsibility when reporting the incident.
It warned against what it described as sensational reporting and the use of social media to damage individuals’ reputations through unverified interpretations and innuendo.
The campaign organisation described the controversy as an attempt at “cheap political blackmail” and urged the people of Oyo State to focus on issues concerning governance ahead of the 2027 governorship election.
It said the election should be centred on candidates’ ideas, competence, development plans and commitment to improving the welfare of residents rather than controversies arising from social media content.
