Oyo APC Guber Candidate Under Fire As Campaign Team Explains Viral Lap-Sitting Video

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.

According to Bush Radio Academy, the clarification followed widespread reactions to the footage, which captured an interaction between Alli and students who had reportedly visited his campaign office in Mokola, Ibadan.

The campaign organisation said the students, who were from the institution’s Department of Banking and Finance, had gone to Alli’s office to invite him to their programme and conduct an interview with him.

According to the team, the number of students present exceeded the available seating capacity, leaving some of them without chairs. It explained that Alli then invited one of the students to sit on his lap.

The video subsequently generated reactions on social media, particularly after Alli was seen briefly touching the student’s lap. While some users interpreted the gesture differently, the campaign team rejected suggestions that the interaction had any inappropriate undertone.

The organisation described the incident as a spontaneous and fatherly gesture, accusing some online platforms of deliberately attempting to sexualise the interaction for political reasons.

The campaign team maintained that the circumstances surrounding the encounter had been distorted and urged members of the public to disregard what it described as misleading narratives about the video.

It further stated that those familiar with Alli’s relationship with young people would understand his fatherly disposition towards them, insisting that there was no justification for the offensive interpretations being attached to the footage.

The campaign organisation expressed concern that what it described as an ordinary interaction between a political leader and students seeking support for their programme had been turned into a controversial issue, which it attributed to political desperation.

It therefore called on the public to consider the context of the incident rather than relying on interpretations of the viral footage circulating online.