Senator representing Abia North, Orji Kalu, has admitted that he previously engaged in international arms trading, disclosing that he sold heavy weapons to buyers across different countries, regardless of their identities.
The former Abia State governor made the revelation during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, while speaking about his relationships with successive South African leaders.
Asked directly whether he was an arms dealer, Kalu answered in the affirmative but said he eventually quit the business following pressure from his parents.
He explained that his mother and father intervened and insisted that he discontinue the trade, a request he said he complied with.
“My parents, my mother, my father came and said I must stop, and I stopped,” he said.
The senator, however, maintained that his involvement in the business was purely commercial, dismissing suggestions that he was concerned about how buyers intended to use the weapons.
When asked whether he sold arms to individuals who might use them to kill others, Kalu said his priority was making money.
“No, no, no, no, no, no. I was selling guns to make money, whether they blow up it’s not my business,” he said.
Kalu also disclosed that his customers were not limited to any particular political group or country, insisting that he was willing to sell to anyone who could afford the weapons.
The interviewer specifically asked whether he supplied arms to the African National Congress (ANC) during its resistance against apartheid in South Africa.
In response, Kalu said he sold to different buyers, including those in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Namibia.
“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 provide details about the sources of the weapons, describing the information as private business matters.
When the interviewer raised questions about the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria and the implications of his former activities for national security, Kalu clarified that his trade involved heavy weapons rather than small firearms.
“No, these are heavy arms that were sold country to country,” he said.
The senator was also asked whether he sold weapons to Libya under its former leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
Kalu indicated that he sold to anyone with the financial capacity to purchase the weapons.
Asked whether this meant he had supplied arms to Gaddafi, he responded: “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.”
Beyond his former business activities, Kalu spoke about his longstanding connections with South African political leaders, tracing the relationships to his friendship with the country's first post-apartheid president, Nelson Mandela.
According to him, Mandela introduced him to several prominent figures in South African politics, including former President Thabo Mbeki and the incumbent President, Cyril Ramaphosa.
Kalu recalled that Mandela once explained to him that Mbeki's father had made greater contributions to the anti-apartheid struggle than Ramaphosa's father.
He said the consideration reportedly influenced the ANC's decision to select Mbeki ahead of Ramaphosa as Mandela's running mate.
Kalu further disclosed that Mbeki subsequently introduced him to another former South African president, Jacob Zuma, adding that his relationships with the country's political leadership continued across successive administrations.
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