Amachree: DSS Vetted, Approved My Account of Abacha’s Death, I Insist He Died Atop a Woman

…Former DSS director counters Al-Mustapha, insists ex-Head of State died during sex

By Jeremy Fregene
Former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has insisted that his account of the death of Nigeria’s former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, was officially vetted and approved by the DSS before publication, maintaining that the late military ruler died after suffering a cardiac arrest during a sexual encounter.

Amachree also challenged former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), to publicly release what he claims are CCTV recordings of Abacha’s final hours if he believes the account contained in the former intelligence officer’s memoir is inaccurate.

The fresh exchange has reignited the long-running controversy surrounding the circumstances of Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998, with both men offering conflicting narratives but no publicly available documentary evidence to substantiate their claims.

Speaking in response to Al-Mustapha’s criticism of his recently published memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, Amachree said his account was not a personal fabrication but one that underwent official scrutiny by the Department of State Services before it was released.

According to him, the memoir formed part of activities marking the agency’s 40th anniversary and received institutional approval before publication.

Amachree said the DSS invited him from the United States to participate in the official launch of the book, an event attended by senior security officials, directors of the agency from across the country, and members of the diplomatic community.

He dismissed Al-Mustapha’s allegations that he had merely written “a script” prepared by unnamed individuals, insisting that anyone disputing his account should present verifiable evidence instead of resorting to personal attacks.

“If he says he knows what happened that night, let him release the CCTV footage,” Amachree said.

His remarks followed comments by Al-Mustapha, who rejected the version of events contained in the memoir and accused the former DSS officer of publishing falsehoods.

The retired army officer claimed he possesses CCTV footage capturing the events surrounding Abacha’s final hours, insisting the recordings contradict Amachree’s assertion that the former military ruler died after suffering a coitus-induced cardiac arrest.

“The boy was asked to write the lies by others. I have all the CCTV footage of what happened in my custody, so what he said is not true,” Al-Mustapha was quoted as saying.

Amachree, however, stood firmly by his account, arguing that the appropriate response to any disputed historical narrative was the presentation of credible evidence.

The former intelligence officer maintained that if Al-Mustapha indeed possesses recordings capable of shedding light on one of Nigeria’s most debated political deaths, he should make them public for Nigerians and historians to examine.

The latest war of words has revived public interest in the unresolved questions surrounding General Abacha’s sudden death in office nearly three decades ago, with the competing claims once again fuelling debate over one of the most controversial episodes in Nigeria’s political history.

Neither Amachree nor Al-Mustapha has publicly produced documentary or forensic evidence to conclusively establish their respective versions of the events surrounding the late military ruler’s final hours.