Utomi defends Kila's character amid credential fraud allegations, critics demand verification
Pat Utomi defended Anthony Kila on Facebook Saturday, calling him 'smart and good' and dismissing claims about fake qualifications as 'spectacularly stupid'. However, critics including law lecturer Ekokoi Solomon and commentator Babajide Brown argued Utomi missed the point—focusing on Kila's character rather than addressing whether he actually obtained the academic titles he claims, such as a professorship from the European Centre for Advanced and Professional Studies. This follows Premium Times investigations from October 3 and 10 that found no evidence Kila received a professorship from that institution (which may not exist) and documented discrepancies in his claimed undergraduate to doctoral qualifications across multiple universities. Utomi compared the controversy to Jason Arday's plagiarism case (Arday, a Cambridge professor accused of plagiarism in July 2026, died August 14), but critics like Brown noted the cases differ fundamentally: Arday involved dishonesty in attributing work, while Kila's case concerns whether he possessed the qualifications he claimed. Academics Isaacs Oguntuase and Jolayemi Babajide urged Utomi, as a professor, to encourage Kila to provide verifiable evidence of his credentials or acknowledge possible misrepresentation, emphasizing that preserving public confidence in academic institutions requires demanding accountability regardless of reputation. Kila maintains he is a professor and stands by his credentials, while Utomi said he learned of the controversy late and never asked Kila for documentation, citing his own past experiences with unfair attacks on public figures. The debate centers on whether personal character assessments can substitute for documentary verification in academic integrity discussions.