Oyo APC Candidate Explains Viral Video of Student Sitting on His Lap
The campaign organisation of the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Oyo State, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, has explained a viral video showing a male student of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, sitting on the politician’s lap.
The video, which circulated widely online, showed Alli seated with the student on his lap during what appeared to be an interview. The footage generated criticism and speculation on social media, with some users questioning the nature of the interaction.
But Alli’s campaign team said the encounter had been taken out of context.
According to a statement issued in Ibadan on Wednesday, the student and other students from the institution’s Department of Banking and Finance had visited Alli at his campaign office in Mokola to invite him to one of their programmes and conduct an interview.
The campaign said the venue became crowded because the number of students exceeded the available seating capacity. It said Alli then invited one of the students to sit on his lap as a spontaneous and “fatherly” gesture so that the engagement could continue.
The campaign strongly rejected attempts to portray the interaction as sexual or inappropriate, describing such interpretations as misleading and politically motivated.
It also urged the public and media organisations to consider the full context of the encounter rather than draw conclusions from a short clip circulating online.
The controversy comes as political activity intensifies ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 elections, putting public figures under increased scrutiny over their conduct and interactions with voters, students and other groups.
While the campaign has provided an explanation for the encounter, the episode highlights the speed with which short videos can generate political controversy online, particularly when the wider context of an interaction is unavailable.
The APC campaign team has called on political actors and the public to focus on issues including competence, development and the welfare of Oyo State residents rather than what it described as attempts to manufacture controversy around the candidate.
