Nearly three decades after the sudden death of former Nigerian military ruler General Sani Abacha, fresh claims have reignited public interest in one of the country’s most controversial political mysteries.
A retired Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has alleged that Abacha died from a cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter, dismissing the long-standing rumours that the late Head of State was poisoned.
The explosive claims are contained in Amachree’s newly released memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, excerpts of which were published on Tuesday.
According to the former intelligence officer, who served as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos DSS Command when Abacha died on June 8, 1998, the late military leader suffered a fatal cardiac arrest at about 4:05 a.m. inside the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Amachree claimed the woman who was with Abacha at the time later told investigators that the military ruler suddenly became unresponsive during their intimate encounter.
According to the memoir, the woman reportedly said: I did not kill him, he died on top of me.
The retired DSS officer alleged that the woman, a pharmacist who had travelled to Abuja for a conference, accompanied her elder sister said to have been Abacha’s girlfriend to Aso Rock that night.
He claimed that after the elder sister returned to her hotel, the younger woman remained with the Head of State.
Moments later, she allegedly discovered that Abacha was no longer responding.
Panicked, she reportedly left the Presidential Villa after asking security personnel to provide transportation back to her hotel before later boarding an early morning flight to Lagos.
Amachree said that after Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, was informed of the incident, security agencies immediately began efforts to locate the woman.
He claimed he was instructed by DSS headquarters to track her down in Lagos, where she was later questioned before being flown back to Abuja.
According to him, her account remained consistent throughout the investigation.
The former intelligence officer insisted that the woman’s testimony supports his conclusion that Abacha died from a coitus-induced cardiac arrest, rather than poisoning or any other conspiracy that has circulated for years.
He argued that the account puts to rest decades of speculation surrounding the former military ruler’s sudden death.
General Sani Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death in June 1998.
His unexpected death has remained one of Nigeria’s most debated political events, with numerous theories including claims of poisoning circulating over the years.
However, Amachree’s account represents his version of events as presented in his memoir. The claims have not been independently verified by public official records, and no new official government investigation has been announced in relation to the assertions.
