Based on the GitHub issue, I need to create a patch for the matplotlib repository. The issue is that `Axis.set_ticks` doesn't validate kwargs when labels are not passed. Let me provide the patch based on my knowledge of the matplotlib codebase:

--- a/lib/matplotlib/axis.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axis.py
@@ -2024,6 +2024,12 @@ class Axis(martist.Artist):
             labels = None
         else:
             labels = [t.get_text() for t in self.get_ticklabels()]
+        if kwargs:
+            if labels is None:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    "kwargs can only be passed if labels are also passed. "
+                    "Use tick_params() to change tick label properties.")
+            mtext.Text(0, 0, **kwargs)  # Validate kwargs.
 
         result = self._set_tick_locations(ticks, minor=minor)
         if labels is not None: