Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, representing Abia North Senatorial District, has disclosed that he was previously involved in international arms trading, selling heavy weapons to buyers across different countries without regard to their identities, provided they could afford them.
The former Abia State governor made the revelation during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, November 9, 2026, while discussing his business dealings and relationships with former and serving African leaders.
When asked whether he was an arms dealer, Kalu answered in the affirmative, explaining that dealing in weapons was among his business activities outside Nigeria.
He said he eventually abandoned the trade after his parents intervened and asked him to stop.
“But my parents, my mother, my father came and said I must stop, and I stopped,” he said.
During the interview, Kalu was asked whether he considered the possibility that weapons he sold could be used to kill people.
He dismissed the suggestion, saying his primary motivation was making money rather than determining how buyers used the weapons.
“No, no, no, no, no, no. I was selling guns to make money, whether they blow up, it’s not my business,” he said.
The interviewer also questioned whether he supplied weapons to the African National Congress (ANC) during its struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
Kalu denied that his business was limited to the ANC, saying he sold weapons to any interested buyer with the financial means to purchase them.
“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.
Asked where he obtained the weapons, the senator declined to disclose his sources, describing the information as his private business.
He also maintained that his dealings involved heavy weapons traded between countries rather than the small arms commonly associated with Nigeria’s security challenges.
When the interviewer asked whether he had sold weapons to Libya under its late leader, Muammar Gaddafi, Kalu reiterated that he was willing to sell to anyone who had the money.
“To anybody that had money to buy,” he responded.
When the interviewer suggested that this meant he had supplied arms to Gaddafi, Kalu did not provide details of any specific transaction but described the former Libyan leader as a good man.
Arms trade and international restrictions
Kalu’s comments have drawn attention to the international arms trade and the restrictions imposed on several African countries during periods of political conflict.
The United Nations Security Council imposed a mandatory arms embargo on apartheid-era South Africa in 1977 through Resolution 418. The restrictions were lifted in 1994 following the country’s transition to democratic rule.
Libya was also placed under a UN arms embargo in 2011 following the violent crackdown on anti-government protests during Gaddafi’s rule.
However, Kalu did not disclose when his arms-trading activities took place, identify specific transactions or establish whether any of his dealings involved countries during periods when international arms restrictions applied.
His remarks also did not provide details about the companies, intermediaries or licensing arrangements involved in the transactions.
The revelation comes as Nigeria continues to grapple with insecurity and the proliferation of illicit firearms across different parts of the country.
Kalu, a businessman and former governor who served Abia State from 1999 to 2007, is currently a senator representing Abia North under the All Progressives Congress.
His admission is likely to generate further questions about the scale, duration and nature of his former involvement in the international arms trade.