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 organisation 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 when the students arrived, leaving insufficient seating for everyone. It said that, to ensure the interview could proceed without delay, Senator Alli asked one of the students to sit on his lap.
The organisation described the candidate’s action as a “spontaneous and fatherly gesture,” maintaining that there was no inappropriate undertone or intention behind the act.
The campaign team said it was unfortunate that what it described as an ordinary interaction between a fatherly political leader and students who visited to seek support for their programme had been deliberately portrayed in a negative manner.
It said those familiar with Senator Alli understood his disposition towards young people and his fatherly relationship with them, adding that there was no basis for what it described as offensive insinuations being attached to the video.
The campaign team urged members of the public to disregard the narratives surrounding the video online, describing the backlash as “cheap political blackmail” aimed at misleading the electorate.
