The Kila Affair: Duty Of Care Runs Both Ways

For more than a week now, one subject has competed with fuel prices, insecurity and the latest in the shifting alliances of thieves a.k.a. political parties for the attention of Nigerians. It is the case of Anthony Kila, the television regular and reportedly suspended Pro-Chancellor of Michael and Cecilia Ibru University, whom Premium Times has reported to be a professor that no recognised university ever made.

The matter raises questions that go well beyond one man. How should a society treat a person at the centre of such a storm? Should a “soft landing” be found for him? Is he simply an easy target, and who will be next?

These are fair questions, and they deserve a considered answer. Mine is simple enough. We must look after the man. We must not look away from the matter.

What is on the table

Let me first set out what we are talking about, for the benefit of anyone who has been away from Nigeria or from the internet.

On October 3, 2026, Premium Times published an investigation reporting that it could find no recognised academic institution that had conferred the rank of professor on Mr Kila, who has for years been introduced on television and in newspapers as a “Jean Monnet Professor of Strategy and Development”. A week later, on October 10, 2026, the paper went further. Its second investigation alleged that the problem was not only the professorship but the academic qualifications claimed by Mr Kila, from the first degree to the doctorate.

Mr Kila has not kept quiet. He has reportedly insisted that he is a professor, that he stands by his title, and that “the facts and documentation will speak for themselves”. He has also said that he has instructed his lawyers to review the publication. That is his right. In the meantime, the university whose governing council he chaired has suspended him, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is reported to have set up a team to look into the matter.

I must say this plainly: Mr Kila remains innocent until proven otherwise. Nothing here has been tested in a court of law. But we are also well past the stage of “if”. Specific allegations, published in considerable detail, are on the ground. They will not go away because some of us find them uncomfortable.

Yes, let us look after the man

The case of Jason Arday is fresh in the mind, and it should be. Arday, celebrated in 2023 as the youngest Black professor in the history of the University of Cambridge, resigned on August 5, 2026, after allegations of plagiarism and questions about parts of his biography. In his resignation statement, he said that relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary had taken a profound toll on him and on those he loved. Nine days later, he was found dead at the age of 41.

Nobody should wish that ending on anybody. I certainly do not wish it on Anthony Kila. We like to think of ourselves as a tough people, but shame is a heavy load, and none of us knows the weight another person can carry.

Still, the two cases are not the same, and we should not pretend that they are. Arday was a Black man at the top of a British system in which Black professors are about one percent of the professoriate. Many people, including the Chancellor of Cambridge, who spoke of a “racist feeding frenzy”, saw the avalanche of coverage as race-based witch-hunting. Others reject that reading. It is an argument for Britain to settle. Nothing of the sort arises here. This is a Nigerian newspaper asking a Nigerian about titles used in Nigeria. Nor are the allegations alike. Arday held a chair that a real university conferred on him, and the questions concerned his thesis and parts of his biography. With Mr Kila, the question is whether the titles exist at all. What the two cases share is the human being at the centre.

So, Nigeria must prevent an Arday outcome. Mr Kila’s family and friends owe him a duty of care. They should stay close, support him and, where necessary, get him professional help. If the State eventually invites him for questioning, the State will owe him that duty too. And the rest of us can discuss the issue without making sport of a man in trouble. Ridicule is not accountability.

I would add one thing. Mr Kila is reported to be heading to court to seek civil remedies. I am glad of it. It is a creditable path, and one that Arday did not take. A man who is preparing his case is a man who is still standing. If his friends want to help him, they can contribute to his legal fees.

But the duty of care is not a one-way street

This is where I part company with the idea of a “soft landing”. I am yet to see what the elements of such a landing would be, or with whom it would be negotiated. Is it with the newspaper, so that it stops publishing? Is it with the anti-corruption agency, so that it stops asking? Neither is ours to give away.

Premium Times has done its part and should continue to do it. If there are errors in its reports, they should be corrected, for the sake of accuracy and of posterity. If it has more to publish, I, for one, would not discourage its editors. Mercy to the man does not require silence about the matter.

More importantly, Mr Kila also owes something. He owes it to the students and parents of a university whose council he chaired. He owes it to the television audiences who took his analysis more seriously given the title that came before his name. He owes it to those of us who paid attention to his views.

I count myself among them. He and I were on the same side, over Zoom, in an association that campaigned for the restructuring of Nigeria. He was its General Secretary until it packed up. I listened to him with respect.

A friend of his has publicly asked him to come clean and answer the questions raised. That is good advice from a good friend. He is, of course, free to stay quiet and leave everything to his lawyers.

And since this is Nigeria, let me say the obvious. We have a long history of injunctions: against further publication, against investigation, even against an invitation by the police. It would be a pity if this case took that familiar road. A court is a place to prove one’s claim, not to prevent the question.

Is he an easy target? Who is next?

There are several familiar arguments for looking the other way in a case like this. He is brilliant and prolific, so he measures up to the title anyway. We live in a post-certificate world. He is not in public service, so why the hullabaloo? He is only being hounded because of his outspoken public commentary.

None of these persuade me. If a man is brilliant, he does not need a borrowed robe. If certificates no longer matter, nobody should need to claim one. And one does not have to be on the government payroll to hold a position of public trust.

– Babafemi A. Badejo is a former Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia and a former Professor of Political Science and International Relations. He is the author of the best-selling Raila Odinga: An Enigma in Kenyan Politics and of Somalia Just Before Al-Shabaab: Why Peace Was Elusive. He is a recipient of the Mandela Lifetime Achievement Award of the Annual Africa Conference at the University of Texas at Austin, the Medal of the Order of Timor-Leste, and Djibouti’s 27 Juin 1977 Order. He acknowledges the use of AI assistance in preparing this article.