The campaign organisation of Sharafadeen Alli, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Oyo State, has explained why a male student of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, sat on the politician’s lap.
In a viral video circulating online, the student is seen
sitting on Alli’s lap during an interaction at his campaign office in Mokola,
Ibadan, the capital of Oyo.
Viral Video Sparks Reactions as Oyo APC Gov Candidate Sharafa Alli is Seen Sitting a Student Journalist on His Lap
— NigerianEye.com (@NigerianEye_) September 2, 2026
A viral video showing Senator Sharafa Alli, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Oyo State, sitting a student journalist on his lap and… pic.twitter.com/96PWdRDZYa
Alli was also seen stroking the student’s thigh, sparking
outrage on social media.
Addressing the encounter in a statement issued on Wednesday,
Alli’s campaign organisation said the student and other members of the
department of banking and finance at the institution visited the APC
governorship candidate to invite him to their programme and interview him.
The campaign council said the students arrived when there
were not enough seats for everyone, prompting Alli to ask one of them to sit on
his lap.
The campaign organisation said the gesture was “a
spontaneous and fatherly gesture” and had no inappropriate intention.
“The number of people present exceeded the available seating
capacity, leaving insufficient chairs for everyone,” the statement reads.
The campaign organisation accused some online platforms of
attempting to sexualise the interaction, describing their interpretations as
misleading and politically motivated.
“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 campaign council said.
“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.”
The campaign council called on media organisations and social media users to be cautious when reporting the incident, describing the reactions trailing the video as “cheap political blackmail”.
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