The campaign organisation of the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Oyo State, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, has explained why a student of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, was seen sitting on his lap in a viral video.
The campaign said the student and other students from the institution’s Department of Banking and Finance had visited Alli at his campaign office in Mokola, Ibadan, to invite him to their programme and interview him.
In a statement issued on Wednesday and uploaded on its website, the campaign team said the students arrived at a time when the available seats were insufficient for everyone, prompting Alli to ask one of the students to sit on his lap so the interview could proceed.
The explanation followed the circulation of the video online, which has attracted reactions over the interaction between Alli and the student. In the footage, Alli was also seen briefly caressing the student’s lap, a gesture that some social media users interpreted in different ways.
The campaign team, however, condemned attempts by some online platforms to sexualise the interaction, describing such interpretations as misleading and politically motivated.
According to the campaign team, “the number of people present exceeded the available seating capacity, leaving insufficient chairs for everyone.”
