The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has opened an investigation into the professorial claims of Anthony Kila, Pro-Chancellor of Michael and Cecilia Ibru University in Delta State, as questions deepen over the academic credentials he has used publicly for years.
The university has since removed Kila’s profile and photographs from its website and asked him to step aside from his responsibilities as Pro-Chancellor while the matter is investigated.
The controversy followed an October 3 investigation by PREMIUM TIMES which questioned whether Kila had ever been formally awarded the academic rank of professor by a recognised institution.
Kila has rejected the allegation that he is a “fake professor,” describing the characterisation as inaccurate, misleading and damaging to his reputation. He maintains that he is a professor and says he stands by the academic and professional credentials supporting the title.
Kila was appointed Pro-Chancellor of Michael and Cecilia Ibru University in August 2025 and had for years been publicly identified as a professor.
His profiles on the university’s website and on the website of the Commonwealth Institute of Advanced and Professional Studies, CIAPS, described him as “Prof. Anthony Kila.” He was also regularly introduced as a professor during television appearances and public engagements.
He has also been described as a “Jean Monnet Professor of Strategy and Development,” a designation that became one of the central issues examined in the investigation.
According to PREMIUM TIMES, Kila said the professorial title was awarded to him in 2016 by an institution he identified as the European Centre for Advanced and Professional Studies, or ECAPS, which he said was based in Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
The newspaper said searches of the United Kingdom’s Companies House, Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission and other publicly available sources produced no identifiable institutional record for the ECAPS described by Kila.
The searches reportedly did not reveal a website, physical address, social media presence or alumni records linked to the institution.
PREMIUM TIMES also contacted the European Education and Culture Executive Agency, which administers the European Union’s Jean Monnet programme.
According to the report, the agency said Kila did not appear in its publicly available directory as a Jean Monnet project coordinator for the period covered by the records.
That distinction is important because the controversy involves two related but separate questions: whether Kila was properly awarded the academic rank of professor and whether his use of the “Jean Monnet Professor” designation can be independently verified.
The investigation also examined Kila’s broader academic record.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that academic profiles associated with him presented him as a widely travelled scholar, jurist, author and academic with several qualifications from European institutions.
The newspaper said some descriptions contained in the academic résumé provided during its investigation differed from biographies previously published by institutions associated with Kila.
It also examined his Google Scholar profile and reported that nine of 22 works listed there were not authored by him. The newspaper said it could not independently establish that the works it attributed to Kila included peer reviewed publications in established academic journals of the type commonly associated with progression to professorial rank.
Those findings, however, do not establish that all of Kila’s claimed academic qualifications are false. The central unresolved issue remains the basis and institutional authority for the professorial title he has used.
Kila has strongly challenged the allegations.
In a statement responding to the investigation, he said he remained a professor and stood by the credentials on which his title was based.
He argued that the reporting reflected what he described as an incomplete understanding of the nature, origin and institutional basis of his professorship.
Kila also indicated that he was prepared to make documents relating to his professorial status available and said he had instructed his lawyers to review the publications and advise him on possible legal steps to protect his reputation and professional standing.
PREMIUM TIMES later reported that his response had not publicly identified the legal or academic status of ECAPS, provided an address for the institution or produced a certificate, appointment letter or other document demonstrating that the institution awarded him the professorial rank.
As the controversy widened, attention also turned to Michael and Cecilia Ibru University itself.
The institution had previously presented Kila on its own website as a professor and Pro-Chancellor.
By October 6, however, his name, photographs and profile had been removed from the university’s website.
The university later took a further step, asking Kila to step aside from his responsibilities as Pro-Chancellor pending the outcome of investigations into his professorial status.
In announcing the decision, the university said the action was consistent with its commitment to academic integrity, transparency and high standards of institutional governance.
The university’s decision did not amount to a finding that Kila had committed wrongdoing. It was an interim action while the issues surrounding his academic title were being examined.
The matter then attracted the attention of the ICPC.
The anti-corruption commission constituted a team to investigate the claims surrounding Kila’s professorial status.
According to PREMIUM TIMES, investigators are examining not only whether the academic title is authentic, but also whether Michael and Cecilia Ibru University used Kila’s professorial status in official documents, engagements or representations and whether the institution obtained any advantage from doing so.
That aspect broadens the controversy beyond a disagreement over an academic title.
It raises questions about institutional governance, credential verification and whether representations concerning the qualifications of senior university officials were relied upon in dealings with public institutions or other organisations.
It also raises questions about the university’s vetting process before Kila was appointed Pro-Chancellor.
Among the issues that remain unanswered are what academic documents were supplied before his appointment, whether the institution independently verified the professorial title and what evidence was relied upon when he was publicly presented as a professor.
Public reaction to the controversy has also been significant.
The original investigation attracted widespread discussion on Nigerian social media, with some users questioning how the professorial designation could have been repeatedly used in television appearances, institutional profiles and public engagements without earlier scrutiny.
The controversy has therefore developed rapidly.
Kila was appointed Pro-Chancellor in August 2025.
On October 3, 2026, PREMIUM TIMES published its investigation questioning the basis of his professorial title.
Kila subsequently rejected the allegation and insisted that his professorship was genuine.
By October 6, the ICPC had constituted a team to investigate the matter, Michael and Cecilia Ibru University had removed his profile from its website, and the university had asked him to step aside from his duties pending the conclusion of the investigation.
For now, several important questions remain unresolved.
Kila continues to maintain that he is legitimately entitled to the title of professor, while the publicly available evidence cited by PREMIUM TIMES has raised questions about the institution he says awarded him the rank and his claimed association with the Jean Monnet programme.
The ICPC investigation is expected to determine whether there is evidence of wrongdoing and whether Kila’s professorial status was used in any official context in a manner that raises legal or public integrity concerns.
Until that investigation is concluded, the allegations against Kila remain disputed and no final finding of wrongdoing by the ICPC has been announced.
