3.9.2026
Senator Sharafadeen Alli, the All Progressive Congress governorship candidate in Oyo State caused a social media storm Wednesday, when he asked a student to sit on his lap.
A group of students from The Polytechnic Ibadan had booked an audience with him at his Makola office in Ibadan and one of the students was videoed sitting on his lap in a sofa, with his hands resting on the student’s lap.
The video went viral on the social media with various comments suggesting that the politician allegedly has same sex orientation and was not hiding it.
However, according to his campaign team there was sexual undertone to Senator Alli asking the student to sit on his lap.
They explained that it was just a simple gesture from a fatherly point of view after the number of seats in the office could not take all the visiting students.
“The number of people present exceeded the available seating capacity, leaving insufficient chairs for everyone,” said the campaign team in a statement.
“It was just a spontaneous and fatherly gesture and there was no inappropriate intention behind the action.
“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.
“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.”
According to the campaign team it was another cheap blackmail from social media users, which must be ignored.
It urged social media users to act with responsibility and not cause damage to the reputations of individuals by sensationalising harmless gestures.