Former Abia State governor Orji Kalu has disclosed that he was involved in international arms trading.
According to him, arms dealing was once one of his major businesses outside Nigeria.
Naija News reports that Kalu disclosed this during an interview on Arise News while discussing his business dealings.
He stated that he sold weapons to individuals and countries willing to pay for them
When asked whether he was an arms dealer, Kalu responded, “Yes,” confirming that he sold weapons to make money.
He, however, explained that his parents eventually persuaded him to abandon the business.
“My mother and my father came and said I must stop, and I stopped,” he said.
Kalu also dismissed suggestions that he was concerned about how the weapons would be used, insisting that his primary interest at the time was making money.
“I was selling guns to make money. Whether they blow [up] people was not my business,” he stated.
Asked whether he supplied weapons to the African National Congress (ANC) during the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, Kalu denied that the organisation was his specific customer.
“No, I was selling to anybody who wants to buy,” he said.
He further disclosed that his arms business operated across different countries, adding that he was willing to sell to anyone with the financial capacity to purchase the weapons.
When asked whether he had sold arms to former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Kalu maintained that his business was open to any interested buyer.
“To anybody that has money to buy, when I was selling,” he said, while describing Gaddafi as “a good man” and adding, “May he rest in peace.”
The interviewer also questioned Kalu about the sources of the weapons and the identities of his suppliers, particularly against the backdrop of concerns over the proliferation of small arms in Nigeria.
However, the former governor declined to disclose where he obtained the weapons, calling it his private business.
