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Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, who represents Abia North Senatorial District, has disclosed that he previously operated an international arms-trading business, selling heavy weapons to buyers in different countries, including anyone with the financial capacity to purchase them.
Kalu, a former governor of Abia State, made the revelation during an interview on Arise Television on Monday while discussing his business activities across Africa and relationships with former and serving South African leaders.
Asked directly whether he was an arms dealer, the senator answered in the affirmative, explaining that he eventually abandoned the business following pressure from his parents.
“Yes, so I stopped because my...” he began.
He subsequently explained that his parents, particularly his mother and father, insisted that he discontinue the business.
“But my parents, 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 dismissed the suggestion, saying his motivation was to make money rather than determine how the weapons would eventually be used.
“No, no, no, no, no, no. I was selling guns to make money, whether they blow up, it's not my business,” he said.
The interviewer also asked whether he supplied weapons to the African National Congress (ANC) during its struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
In response, Kalu said his business was not restricted to any political organisation, explaining that he sold weapons to anyone willing and financially capable of purchasing them.
“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 stated.
Asked about the sources of the weapons, the senator declined to disclose details, insisting that such information was strictly part of his private business.
“It's only my business,” he responded.
Addressing concerns about the proliferation of small arms and weapons in Nigeria, Kalu clarified that the weapons involved in his former business were not small firearms but heavy military equipment traded between countries.
“No, these are heavy arms that were sold country to country,” he explained.
In another notable exchange, the interviewer specifically asked whether he had sold weapons to Libya under its former leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
Kalu maintained that he was willing to sell to anybody who had the financial capacity to purchase the weapons.
“To anybody that had money to buy,” he said.
When the interviewer suggested that this meant he had also supplied weapons to Gaddafi, Kalu did not directly confirm any specific transaction but indicated that he would have sold to the late Libyan leader if he had the money during the period he operated the business.
“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,” Kalu said.
The senator, however, did not disclose when he operated the arms business, the companies or individuals involved, the volume of weapons traded, the specific countries or buyers supplied, or whether the transactions were conducted under licensed international arms-trading arrangements.
His disclosure raises questions about the nature and scale of the international arms business he described, as well as the regulatory framework governing the transactions, particularly in view of the security implications of transferring heavy military equipment across national borders.
Beyond his former arms-trading activities, Kalu also spoke about his longstanding relationships with successive South African presidents, tracing the connections to his friendship with the country's former president and anti-apartheid icon, Nelson Mandela.
According to the senator, Mandela introduced him to several prominent South African political figures, including former President Thabo Mbeki and incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Kalu recalled that Mandela once explained the political considerations surrounding the emergence of Mbeki over Ramaphosa as his preferred running mate within the African National Congress.
According to Kalu, Mandela told him that Mbeki's father had contributed more to the anti-apartheid struggle than Ramaphosa's father, a factor he said influenced the ANC's decision to favour Mbeki.
He further disclosed that Mbeki later introduced him to former South African President Jacob Zuma, adding that his relationships with the country's political leadership spanned successive administrations.
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