By Jeremy Fregene
Nearly three decades after the sudden death of former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, a retired senior official of the Department of State Services (DSS) has offered a dramatic new account of the military ruler’s final hours, claiming he died of a cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter inside the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The account is contained in a newly released memoir by former DSS Assistant Director, Dennis Amachree, titled “DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield,” in which he seeks to dispel years of speculation and conspiracy theories surrounding Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998.
According to excerpts of the book, Amachree, who was serving as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos DSS Command at the time, said Abacha died at about 4:05 a.m. while with a female pharmacist at the Aso Rock Presidential Guest House.
He claimed the woman had accompanied her elder sister, described as Abacha’s girlfriend, to the Presidential Villa after the former Head of State reportedly bought the elder sister a new sport utility vehicle (SUV).
Amachree said the elder sister later returned to her hotel, leaving the pharmacist alone with Abacha.
According to his account, the woman later discovered that the military ruler had suddenly become motionless and unresponsive shortly after they became intimate.
He said the pharmacist checked for a pulse but found none before hurriedly dressing up and requesting transport back to her hotel.
“The soldier on duty, unaware of what had happened, arranged transportation for her,” Amachree wrote.
The retired intelligence officer said the woman informed her elder sister about the incident and was immediately taken to the Abuja airport, where she boarded a 7 a.m. Okada Air flight to Lagos.
He further disclosed that Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, was informed of the situation around 5 a.m. and immediately ordered a search for the woman who had been with the Head of State.
However, by the time security personnel arrived at the Hilton Hotel in Abuja, she had already departed for Lagos.
Amachree said the DSS headquarters subsequently directed him to locate the woman, who was eventually traced to Ogudu, Lagos, and brought in for questioning.
According to him, the pharmacist’s opening words during interrogation were startling.
“I did not kill him, he died on top of me,” she reportedly told investigators.
Amachree said after taking her statement, he contacted the DSS headquarters, following which she was flown back to Abuja.
The former DSS officer maintained that the woman’s testimony supports the conclusion that Abacha suffered what he described as a coitus-induced cardiac arrest.
He argued that the account contradicts longstanding claims that the late military ruler was poisoned with an apple or died after being entertained by foreign women, insisting that his version represents the true story behind one of Nigeria’s biggest political mysteries.
General Sani Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death on June 8, 1998. His sudden demise, after nearly five years in power, remains one of the most controversial episodes in the country’s political history, coming less than one month before the death in detention of Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, widely regarded as the winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election.
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