A few days to the event, the African Studies Centre suddenly developed cold feet about hosting the event. No explanation was given, but we heard unofficially, that Nasir El-Rufai was unhappy about my presence.

The venue had to change at the last minute, and at some cost.

Out of nowhere a few days later, a letter emerged from Prof Larmer terminating Dr. Onyeka Nwelue's Academic Vistorship at @AfricaOxfordUni because of the event (which did not even take place at the ASC).

In the letter, this man described me as a 'disreputable figure.'

At risk of self praise, it is no exaggeration to say that I am by quite some distance the most internationally decorated investigative journalist of my generation in Nigeria.

How on earth could I be described as a 'disreputable figure'?

Where was this coming from?

Still the voice of El-Rufai and hand of Miles Larmer were not done. Prof Larmer then sent emails to the Cambridge University Centre of African Studies where I was, raising enough dust to make them take some strange and unusual actions.

Apparently, Dr Nwelue uploaded a video of me at my introduction to the Centre on his Twitter handle, without getting permission from 2 people who appeared in the video.

How was that my fault? I have no idea.

But then I was asked to stay away until the end of my Fellowship.

And still El-Rufai/Larmer were not done.

Their next trick was to get a student newspaper which uses an 'Gmail.com' address to write a maliciously-worded hack story filled with ad-hominem and unbacked claims, which described my book launch - for some reason - as 'fraudulent.'

When they reached out for comment, I had informed them that my Fellowship was not terminated, and I showed them the letter above as proof.

They nonetheless ran the story anyway, and quoted an anonymous source claiming that Cambridge terminated me.

To make it obvious whose doing all this really is, the story then made a completely unrelated and unnecessary mention of my support for Peter Obi - a known political enemy of Nasir El-Rufai - describing him as a 'populist politician.'

How was this relevant to the story?

My Director at the Cambridge University Centre of African Studies who is aware of El-Rufai's problem with me and the ensuing shenanigans has stated that there is something 'deeply suspect' going on at Oxford, and I am constrained to agree.

This is a public lynching.

As many many know, I am not the sort to be cowed, intimidated or bullied - I have built an entire career out of being anti-fragile, and that is not going to change.

I am however, deeply disappointed that this is how the University of Oxford actually works. I did not expect this.

During my undergraduate years at the University of Hull between 2008 and 2011, I looked up to Oxford as the pinnacle of academia and human refinement.

I did not expect Oxford to be just another influence-peddling, image-laundering sweatshop with great PR. I am bitterly disappointed.