The campaign organisation of Senator Sharafadeen Alli, the Oyo State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, has cleared the air over a viral video showing a male student of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, sitting on his lap.
The video, which circulated widely on social media on Wednesday, September 2, sparked mixed reactions as it depicted the governorship candidate with the student on his lap while briefly patting the individual’s leg.
In a formal statement addressing the controversy, the campaign organization explained that a delegation of students from the institution’s Department of Banking and Finance had visited Alli at his Mokola campaign office in Ibadan to interview him and extend an invitation to an upcoming departmental programme.
According to the campaign team, the office was crowded upon the students’ arrival, leaving insufficient seating for everyone. To ensure the interview could proceed without delay, Senator Alli reportedly asked one of the students to sit on his lap.
The organization described the candidate’s action as a “spontaneous and fatherly gesture,” strongly maintaining that there was no inappropriate undertone or intention behind the act.
“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.
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 campaign team subsequently urged members of the public to disregard the video’s online narratives, characterizing the backlash as “cheap political blackmail” aimed at misleading the electorate.
