*Says “I Cannot Verify His Certificates, But I Know His Intellectual Capacity”
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Professor Pat Utomi has come to the defence of the academic and political commentator Anthony Kila, condemning what he described as a pattern of online attack and public humiliation directed at people over their professional backgrounds.
In a post on X on Saturday, the political economist said he had known Mr. Kila since 2006, when they met in Cambridge, England, during the period in which he was preparing to contest the Nigerian presidency.
He was careful about the limits of what he could say.
He clarified that he had not personally examined Mr. Kila’s academic certificates or letters of appointment, and could not independently verify the details of his educational qualifications.
Despite that, he dismissed suggestions that Mr. Kila had never attended school as baseless and an insult to those familiar with his character and professional capacity.
“If he has never gone to school, then those who have must ask for a refund.”
Describing Mr. Kila as intelligent and a good person, Professor Utomi accepted that he could not guarantee that Mr. Kila had never made mistakes. But he maintained that questioning whether he had ever attended school was unjustified, calling the suggestion “spectacularly stupid”.
Professor Utomi expressed concern about what he characterised as a growing tendency to use social media to attack individuals over their professional backgrounds, and warned that such campaigns can have devastating consequences.
I know Anthony Kila. I was late to awareness of all the trending stuff about his career. I have never had need to ask of his certificates and letters of appointment and so cannot claim to have those details. But if he has never gone to school then those who have must ask for a refund. We watched the cyber mob bully Jason Arday, youngest black professor ever appointed at Cambridge to his early death. Incidentally I first met Anthony Kila in the city of Cambridge, England in 2006 when I was beginning a run for the office of President of Nigeria. Among those in the mob to lynch Arday were white professors pardoned mistakes of worse nature. I do not know who may be going after Kila in a country where many people give academic and non-academic titles to themselves and the status conferral function of the media elevates them to celebrity. But it does not seem normal. I can empathize from my experience.
When years ago a journalist tried to suggest my stay at VWoN had something to do with its demise I posted N12million for anybody who could come up with a shred of evidence in that regard. Fifteen years on and no one has tried to claim the bounty. When I became the first professor of Pan African(Pan Atlantic) parent of the Lagos Business School someone at Unilag went … huh until he found out that the evaluating team was led by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Perhaps if Professors like Adele Jinadu in Pol sci and Joe Umo at UNILAG had not met me in grad school abroad and interacted with my HOD Elinor Lin Ostrom who went on to become the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, someone will write something demeaning about my education.
Kila is a smart and good man. I cannot guarantee he has not made mistakes but to suggest he has not gone to school is spectacularly stupid.— Pat Utomi (@UtomiPat) October 17, 2026
He cited the case of Jason Arday, whom he described as the youngest Black professor ever appointed at the University of Cambridge, saying the academic had been bullied by an online mob before his early death. He alleged that some of those who took part in the attacks were white professors who had been forgiven for more serious mistakes.
He said the experience raised questions about the motivations behind public campaigns targeting professionals and academics, particularly where reputations can be damaged before claims are properly examined.
He said he did not know who might be targeting Mr. Kila, but argued that the intensity of the attacks appeared unusual.
Drawing on his own experience, Professor Utomi recalled a journalist suggesting that his time at the Voice of Nigeria had contributed to the organisation’s eventual decline.
He said he responded by offering N12 million to anyone who could produce evidence supporting the allegation.
Fifteen years later, he said, nobody had come forward to claim it.
He also recounted facing questions about his own academic credentials when he became the first professor associated with the Pan-African, now Pan-Atlantic, parent institution of Lagos Business School.
He said the concerns subsided after it emerged that the evaluation team was led by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan.
He attributed the credibility of that assessment partly to the professional relationships he built during postgraduate study abroad, naming the University of Lagos academics Adele Jinadu and Joe Umo, and Elinor Ostrom, his former head of department, who later became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics.
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