Orji Kalu Admits Selling Heavy Weapons to International Buyers

Senator representing Abia North, Orji Uzor Kalu, has disclosed that he previously operated an international arms business, selling heavy weapons to buyers in different countries, including anyone willing to pay for them.

The former Abia State governor made the revelation during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, November 9, 2026, while discussing his business history and relationships with former and current African leaders.

Asked directly whether he was an arms dealer, Kalu answered in the affirmative, explaining that dealing in weapons was once one of his major business activities outside Nigeria.

He, however, said he eventually abandoned the business after his parents intervened and insisted that he should stop.

“My major business used to be outside this country to deal in arms. I was an arms dealer,” he said.

According to Kalu, his decision to leave the business followed appeals from his mother and father.

“But my parents, my mother, my father came and said I must stop, and I stopped,” he added.

During the interview, the senator was asked whether he sold weapons to people who intended to use them to kill others.

READ ALSO:

• “Your Connections Won’t Save You,” Police Warn Traffic Offenders
• Babcock Student Survives Suspected Suicide Attempt, Receives Treatment
• ICPC Expands Adeyemi’s Case to 36 Counts, Adds Four Civil Servants

Kalu dismissed the suggestion, insisting that his primary motivation was to make money rather than concern himself with how buyers used the weapons.

“I was selling guns to make money, whether they blow up, it’s not my business,” he said.

He also denied that his arms business was exclusively linked to the African National Congress (ANC), which fought against apartheid in South Africa.

Rather, he said he was willing to sell to any buyer who had the financial capacity, regardless of the country involved.

“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.

When asked where he obtained the weapons, Kalu declined to provide details, describing the information as his private business.

The interviewer also questioned him about whether he supplied weapons to Libya during the leadership of its late ruler, Muammar Gaddafi.

Kalu responded that he sold to anybody who had the money to buy, adding that Gaddafi was a good man.

“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.

The senator further sought to distinguish his former business from the proliferation of small arms in Nigeria, maintaining that he dealt in heavy weapons traded from one country to another.

“No, these are heavy arms that were sold country to country,” he explained.

His disclosure comes against the backdrop of persistent security challenges in Nigeria, including banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and the proliferation of illegal firearms.

The interview also touched on Kalu’s longstanding relationships with South African political leaders, which he traced to his friendship with the country’s late former president, Nelson Mandela.

He said Mandela introduced him to other South African leaders, including former President Thabo Mbeki and incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Kalu also discussed his relationship with former President Jacob Zuma, saying his connections with successive South African administrations developed through those political relationships.