Alli’s Campaign Fires Back at Critics Over Viral Lap Video

​The campaign organization of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Oyo State, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, has strongly condemned what it termed “cheap political blackmail” following widespread social media reactions to a viral video involving the politician and a student.

​The footage, which circulated widely, captures a male student from the Department of Banking and Finance at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, sitting on the Senator’s lap during an interactive session at his Mokola campaign office in Ibadan. The clip immediately drew intense public scrutiny and mixed interpretations across various digital platforms.

​Addressing the controversy through an official statement, the campaign clarified that the students had visited the candidate to seek support for an upcoming institutional programme and to conduct an interview. According to the campaign, a shortage of available seating at the venue prompted the spontaneous arrangement.

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​”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 statement read.

​Describing the action as a harmless, paternal gesture driven by space constraints rather than impropriety, the campaign team maintained that political opponents were weaponizing an innocent moment to manufacture a scandal. They urged the electorate and media spaces to disregard the speculative narratives and focus instead on substantive issues regarding the state’s development.

​VDM reaction to Senator Sharafadeen Alli viral lap video

​This video provides a quick look at the viral footage and the public reactions surrounding Senator Sharafadeen Alli’s controversial interaction with the student.