The campaign organisation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Oyo State, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, has dismissed controversy surrounding a viral video showing a student sitting on the politician’s lap during a visit to his campaign office in Ibadan.
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https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dcyd6qHME3n/?igsi=Njh6engzajFxYXEx
The campaign team said the incident, which has sparked widespread reactions on social media, occurred during an interaction between Alli and students of The Polytechnic, Ibadan.
According to the organisation, the students from the Department of Banking and Finance visited the campaign office in Mokola to invite the APC candidate to one of their programmes and interview him.
The team explained that the number of students at the meeting exceeded the available seating capacity, leaving some attendees without chairs.
It said Alli, who wanted the engagement and interview to proceed, asked one of the students to sit on his lap.
The development was captured on video and subsequently circulated widely across social media platforms, with users offering different interpretations of the interaction.
The footage also showed Alli briefly touching the student’s lap, a moment that further fuelled the controversy.
However, the campaign organisation insisted that the incident had been taken out of context and rejected claims that the interaction had a sexual undertone.
It described Alli’s action as a spontaneous and fatherly gesture towards the students, insisting that there was no inappropriate intention behind the encounter.
The campaign team also accused some social media platforms of sensationalising the footage and portraying the incident in a manner it said was politically motivated.
The organisation argued that the controversy was being driven by political desperation as the 2027 governorship race in Oyo State begins to generate increased public attention.
It maintained that the original purpose of the students’ visit was to engage the APC candidate on their academic programme and conduct an interview, rather than participate in any controversial activity.
The campaign team urged the public to consider the circumstances surrounding the footage instead of relying solely on interpretations of the short video circulating online.
