Senator representing Abia North, Orji Uzor Kalu, has disclosed that he previously dealt in international arms sales, saying he sold heavy weapons to buyers who could afford them before quitting the business at the insistence of his parents.
Kalu, a former governor of Abia State, made the revelation during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, November 9, while discussing his business interests and relationships with prominent African leaders.
Asked whether he was previously an arms dealer, the senator answered in the affirmative, explaining that dealing in weapons was once a major part of his business activities outside Nigeria.
He said he eventually abandoned the trade after his parents intervened and asked him to stop.
“My mother, my father came and said I must stop, and I stopped,” he said.
When asked whether he sold weapons to people who intended to use them to kill others, Kalu maintained that his primary interest at the time was making money.
“I was selling guns to make money; whether they blow up, it’s not my business,” he said.
The former governor also said his business was not restricted to any particular organisation or political movement, insisting that he sold weapons to anyone willing and able to pay.
Asked whether he supplied arms to the African National Congress (ANC) during South Africa’s struggle against apartheid, Kalu said his customers were not limited to the organisation.
“No, I was selling to anybody who wants to buy. If you have the money, you want to buy in D.R.C., I sell to you, you want to buy in Namibia, you want to buy…” he said.
He declined to disclose where he sourced the weapons, describing the information as private business details.
Kalu further clarified that his former dealings involved heavy weapons traded between countries, rather than the small arms commonly associated with Nigeria’s security challenges.
“No, these are heavy arms that were sold country to country,” he said.
The interviewer also asked whether he sold weapons to Libya under its late leader, Muammar Gaddafi. Kalu responded that he sold to anyone who had the money to buy.
When the interviewer suggested that this meant he had sold arms to Gaddafi, the senator did not provide details of a specific transaction but described the late Libyan leader positively.
“May his soul rest in peace. He was a good man. If you have money to buy, when I was selling, I would sell to you,” he said.
Beyond his former business activities, Kalu spoke about his longstanding relationships with prominent South African leaders, tracing the connections to his friendship with the country’s late president, Nelson Mandela.
He said Mandela introduced him to several South African leaders, including former President Thabo Mbeki and current President Cyril Ramaphosa.
According to Kalu, Mandela once explained that Mbeki’s father had made greater contributions to the anti-apartheid struggle than Ramaphosa’s father, a consideration he said influenced the ANC’s choice of Mbeki over Ramaphosa as Mandela’s running mate.
Kalu added that Mbeki later introduced him to former South African President Jacob Zuma, noting that his relationships with the country’s successive leaders developed through those connections.