ARISE News has barred political analyst Anthony Kila from appearing on its channel and platforms with immediate effect. The decision follows a Premium Times investigation that questioned his claimed academic qualifications and his failure to respond to the network’s enquiries.
In a statement issued by its Editorial Board on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, ARISE News said Kila, who had appeared several times as a freelance political analyst, would no longer feature on the network. The station contacted him on 3 October 2026 regarding claims that he had falsified his academic credentials. He requested additional time to reply but had not done so ten days later. The network noted that the allegations had instead grown more serious.
“In the circumstances we find that his contributions to the ARISE News Channel is no longer tenable,” the statement said. ARISE News added that it had been unaware of the claims when Kila previously appeared and stressed that it takes matters of credibility and integrity extremely seriously. It said it had noted the findings of the Premium Times investigation and that Kila would not appear on its networks at any time now or in the future.
Premium Times published its first report on 3 October 2026, examining Kila’s long-standing public presentation as a professor and as a “Jean Monnet Professor of Strategy and Development.” The newspaper found no evidence that any recognised academic institution had awarded him a professorial title. He had attributed the rank to the European Centre for Advanced and Professional Studies, an institution the paper could not establish existed. The European Education and Culture Executive Agency also disowned the Jean Monnet claim.
A follow-up investigation published on 10 October 2026 reported that Kila had also falsified a series of degrees he claimed to have obtained between 1989 and 2009 from institutions in Italy and the United Kingdom. These included a BA in Classic Studies and an MA in European Studies from Università per Stranieri, a postgraduate diploma from the University of Essex, an MSc from City University London, a PhD in Political Economy from the University of Perugia, an MBA from Aston University, and further qualifications linked to Cambridge. Several of the universities told Premium Times that they had never offered the programmes he listed, had no record of him completing the courses, or that the claimed awards did not exist. Michael and Cecilia Ibru University in Delta State subsequently suspended him as Pro-Chancellor.
Kila has previously rejected the “fake professor” characterisation, insisting he holds the title and that documentation would support his position. He indicated he would seek legal advice. He had not responded to ARISE News by the time of its statement.
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