I sold heavy weapons internationally — Orji Kalu
…Says he sold arms to anyone who could afford them
Senator representing Abia North, Orji Kalu, says he previously traded in heavy weapons internationally, selling arms to buyers in different countries before quitting at the insistence of his parents.
Kalu made the disclosure during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, while discussing his business background and ties to former and current South African leaders.
Asked if he had been an arms dealer, the former Abia State governor said he had, but stopped after his parents intervened.
“Yes, so I stopped because my parents, my mother and my father, came and said I must stop, and I stopped,” he said.
Asked whether he sold weapons to people who intended to kill others, Kalu said his aim was to make money.
“No, no, no. I was selling guns to make money. Whether they blew up [or not] was not my business,” he said.
Kalu said he did not sell exclusively to the African National Congress (ANC) during its struggle against apartheid in South Africa, but to any buyer able to pay.
“I was selling to anybody who wanted to buy. If you have the money and you want to buy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 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, saying, “It’s only my business.”
Asked how his past arms trade related to Nigeria’s current security challenges and the proliferation of small arms, Kalu said the weapons he sold were heavy arms traded between countries.
“No, these are heavy arms that were sold country to country,” he said.
Asked specifically whether he had sold weapons to Libya under its late leader, Muammar Gaddafi, Kalu said he sold to anyone with the means to buy.
“To anybody that had money to buy,” he said.
When the interviewer suggested that this meant he had supplied weapons to Gaddafi, Kalu replied: “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 also discussed his relationships with successive South African presidents, saying they stemmed from his friendship with the country’s late former president, Nelson Mandela.
He said Mandela introduced him to several South African leaders, including former President Thabo Mbeki and incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa.
According to Kalu, Mandela once told him that Mbeki’s father had contributed more to the anti-apartheid struggle than Ramaphosa’s father. Kalu said this was a factor in the ANC’s decision to choose Mbeki over Ramaphosa as Mandela’s running mate.
Kalu added that Mbeki later introduced him to former President Jacob Zuma, and said his relationships with South African leaders had continued across successive administrations.
