Senator Orji Kalu Reveals Plan To Buy 35% Stake In Arsenal

The Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, has revealed his intention to buy 35% stake in London-based football team, Arsenal, to expand his investment in sports.

Kalu, a two-time former governor of Abia State, said his planned investment in the England football club was aimed at concretizing his passion for football.

He recalled that during his tenure as Abia governor, the state-owned Enyimba international football club recorded significant achievements.

The senator tweeted on Monday: “Our success with Enyimba FC btw 2000-2007 has continuously increased my passion for football. As the pillar of sports in Africa,I am considering an investment in football & I will buy 35 percent stake in Arsenal FC @Arsenal. Our target is to lift the Champions League & EPL back to back as we did with Enyimba.”

Kalu is not the first Nigerian to indicate interest in investing or completely buying Arsenal football club.

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, had repeatedly expressed his intention to buy the English football club.

Dangote, in January, restated his plan to buy Arsenal in 2021, after he must have completed some of his multi-billion-dollar projects.

“It is a team that, yes, I would like to buy someday, but what I keep saying is we have $20 billion (£15 billion) worth of projects and that’s what I really want to concentrate on,” Dangote had told the David Rubenstein Show in January, 2020.

“I’m trying to finish building the company and then, after we finish, maybe sometime in 2021 we can.

“I’m not buying Arsenal right now, I’m buying Arsenal when I finish all these projects because I’m trying to take the company to the next level,” he had said.