Orji Kalu, former governor of Abia State and senator representing Abia North, has opened up on his past business dealings saying that he once sold heavy weapons to buyers in different countries.
Kalu made the disclosure during an interview on Arise Television on Monday.
He noted that he stopped the business at the insistence of his parent.
When asked whether he had been an arms dealer, the senator answered in the affirmative, explaining that his involvement in the business ended after his parents intervened and demanded that he walk away from it.
“Yes, so I stopped because my parents, my mother, my father came and said I must stop, and I stopped,” he said.
Kalu said his former business activities extended beyond Nigeria, with weapons supplied to buyers in different parts of Africa.
When the interviewer pressed him on whether he considered the possible use of the weapons by buyers, including their potential involvement in killings, the senator said his primary concern at the time 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.
He also rejected the suggestion that his arms business was limited to supplying the African National Congress (ANC) during its struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
According to him, he sold to anyone who had the financial means to purchase the weapons, 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…” Kalu said.
Asked where he obtained the weapons, the senator declined to provide details, telling the interviewer that the information was his private business.
Kalu, however, maintained that he was dealing in heavy weapons rather than the small arms commonly associated with criminal activities and local insecurity.
“No, these are heavy arms that were sold country to country,” he explained.
The senator was further asked whether he had supplied weapons to Libya during the rule of its late leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
Although he did not provide specific details of any transaction, Kalu maintained that he sold to buyers who could afford the weapons.
“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 also spoke on his relationships with successive South African leaders, which he traced to his association with former President Nelson Mandela.
He said Mandela introduced him to several influential figures in South African politics, including former President Thabo Mbeki and current President Cyril Ramaphosa.