Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, who represents Abia North Senatorial District, has confirmed that he once engaged in the international trade of heavy weapons, selling to individuals and countries that could pay, without regard to how the arms would be used.
Kalu made the disclosure during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, November 9, while discussing his business dealings and his relationships with former African leaders.
Parents’ Intervention Ended the Trade
The former Abia State governor answered in the affirmative when asked whether he had been an arms dealer, but explained that he eventually abandoned the business after his parents intervened.
“My mother and my father came and said I must stop, and I stopped,” he said.
“I Was Selling Guns to Make Money”
Asked whether he considered the possibility that the weapons could be used to kill people, Kalu said his priority had been making money.
“No, no, no, no, no, no. I was selling guns to make money, whether they blow up [people], it’s not my business,” he said.
The interviewer subsequently asked whether he supplied weapons to the African National Congress (ANC) during its struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Kalu denied that his business was restricted to the organisation, saying he sold weapons to anyone who could afford 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.
He declined to disclose where he obtained the weapons, describing the information as his private business. When asked whether he also sold weapons to Libya under its late leader, Muammar Gaddafi, Kalu reiterated that he sold to anyone with the money to purchase them.
Heavy Weapons, Not Small Arms
Kalu clarified that his business involved heavy weapons traded between countries rather than small arms.
“No, these are heavy arms that were sold country to country,” he said.
Why the Countries Named Matter
Kalu’s reference to South Africa is significant because the country was under an international arms embargo during the apartheid era. On November 4, 1977, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 418, imposing a mandatory arms embargo on South Africa in response to the apartheid government’s repression and violence.
The resolution prohibited UN member states from supplying the country with weapons, ammunition, military vehicles and related equipment. The embargo remained in force until May 1994, following the country’s transition to democratic rule and the election of Nelson Mandela as president.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has also been subject to United Nations arms restrictions since 2003. The UN Security Council initially imposed an embargo on arms supplies to foreign and Congolese armed groups operating in parts of eastern DRC.
In 2005, it extended the restrictions to recipients across the country, with exemptions for government forces. In 2008, the Council lifted the restrictions on arms supplies to the Congolese government but retained the embargo on non-governmental armed groups and individuals operating in the country.
Libya, meanwhile, became subject to a UN arms embargo in February 2011 following the violent crackdown on protests against Gaddafi’s government. The restrictions prohibit the supply, sale and transfer of arms and related military equipment to Libya, subject to specified exemptions and approval procedures.
These measures demonstrate the international concerns surrounding the diversion of weapons into conflicts and their use by armed groups and governments accused of human rights violations. However, Kalu did not establish that he supplied weapons to any of the countries during the periods when the respective embargoes applied.
