The campaign organisation of the Oyo State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli, has explained the circumstances surrounding a viral video showing a male student of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, sitting on the candidate’s lap during an interview.
The video, which surfaced on social media on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, generated mixed reactions, with some viewers questioning the nature of the interaction. Several reports have since identified the young man as a student involved in an interview with the senator.
However, in a statement issued in Ibadan, Alli’s campaign organisation said the footage had been taken out of context.
According to the campaign, the student and other students from the Department of Banking and Finance at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, had visited Alli at his campaign office in Mokola, Ibadan, to invite him to their programme and conduct an interview.
The campaign said the students arrived when the available seats were insufficient for everyone, prompting Alli to ask one of the students to sit on his lap so that the engagement could continue.
It described the gesture as “spontaneous and fatherly”, insisting that there was no inappropriate intention behind the interaction.
“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 further maintained that those familiar with Alli’s relationship with young people would understand the context of the interaction.
“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 organisation urged members of the public and media practitioners to consider the broader circumstances surrounding the footage rather than draw conclusions from a short viral clip.
It also accused some critics of attempting to use the incident as political ammunition ahead of the 2027 Oyo State governorship election, describing the narratives surrounding the video as “cheap political blackmail.”
The controversy comes as Alli, the APC candidate, continues his campaign ahead of the governorship election.
Benny News Hub reports that while the campaign has offered its explanation, the video itself has continued to generate debate online, with reactions divided between those who accept the campaign’s account and those who consider the interaction inappropriate regardless of the context.
