A former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has shared his account of the final moments of former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, claiming the late military ruler died of a cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter.
Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death in June 1998. His death has remained the subject of controversy and conspiracy theories, while his administration continues to be associated with allegations of human rights abuses and authoritarian rule.
According to a report, Amachree recounted the events in his new book, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield.
Amachree, who served as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos DSS Command at the time of Abacha’s death, said the former military ruler died at about 4:05 a.m. at the Presidential Villa in Abuja while in the company of a woman.
He said the woman fled the scene and boarded the next available flight to Lagos.
According to Amachree, the woman and her elder sister, who he described as Abacha’s girlfriend, had arrived at Aso Rock earlier that day, with the elder sister later leaving her younger sibling alone with the Head of State.
“At approximately 2.40 am, shortly after Gen. Useni left, Abacha’s girlfriend, an Igbo lady (name withheld), arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House from the Nicon Noga Hilton Hotel.
“With her was her younger sister, a pharmacist who was in Abuja for a conference. The Head of State had just bought his girlfriend a new SUV, and they decided to stop by to say hello to ‘Oga’.
“Abacha was taken with the younger sister, and after a short while, the girlfriend returned to the hotel, leaving the pharmacist alone with the Head of State.
“At about 4.05 am, as they were getting intimate, the pharmacist realized Abacha had stopped moving. She called out to him, but he was unresponsive and stiff. She checked his pulse; there was none.
“In a state of panic, she quickly dressed and left the guest house, telling the soldier on guard duty that ‘Oga’ had asked for a car to take her back to her hotel.
“The soldier, unaware of the gravity of the situation, promptly arranged for her transportation. She returned to the Hilton, and after telling her sister what had happened, was quickly driven to the Abuja Airport to catch the 7 a.m. Okada Airline flight to Lagos.
“This is the window Major Al-Mustapha missed. When he was finally informed of Abacha’s instability at 5 a.m., he asked who had been with the General. He was told about the girlfriend’s younger sister, whom they had just dropped off at the Hilton.
“The State Security Service (SSS) was immediately informed and went to the Hilton to arrest the girlfriend, but the pharmacist they urgently needed was already on her way to Lagos.”
Amachree said he later interrogated the woman in Ogudu, Lagos, after receiving a call from the Director of Operations at the DSS national headquarters.
“My team located and brought her to my office. I interrogated her myself.
“The first thing she said to me was: ‘I did not kill him, he died on top of me.’ After her detailed account, I called the Director in Abuja, and she was immediately flown back.
“The lady pharmacist’s account, on whom Abacha apparently had a coitus-induced cardiac arrest, remains the true position, and puts an end to the conspiracy theories and half-truths that have gone viral.”
Abacha died less than a month before the death of MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
Abiola was in detention under the Abacha administration on charges of insurrection and treason following the annulment of the presidential election.
Boluwatife Enome
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