ABUJA, Nigeria — A retired Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has claimed that former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, died during an intimate encounter with a woman in the early hours of June 8, 1998.
Amachree made the claim in his newly released 348-page memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, where he recounted his involvement in the investigation that followed Abacha's sudden death.
According to the retired intelligence officer, Abacha suffered what he described as a coitus-induced cardiac arrest at about 4:05 a.m. inside the Aso Rock Presidential Villa Guest House in Abuja.
He said the woman, whom he identified only as a pharmacist, was later traced to Lagos and interrogated by him after the DSS received intelligence that she had fled Abuja shortly after the incident.
“The first thing she said to me was, ‘I did not kill him, he died on top of me,’” Amachree wrote.
He added that after obtaining her account, he contacted the DSS Director of Operations in Abuja, who ordered that the woman be flown back to the Federal Capital Territory.
Amachree, who was Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos State SSS Command at the time, said his account represented what he considered the true version of events and should end years of speculation surrounding Abacha's death.
Retired DSS Officer Dismisses Poisoning Theories
Amachree rejected several popular narratives surrounding Abacha's death, including claims that the former military ruler was poisoned with an apple, assassinated through a poisoned handshake or killed as part of a foreign intelligence operation.
According to his account, Abacha's girlfriend had arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House with her younger sister, a pharmacist who was in Abuja to attend a conference.
Amachree alleged that after the girlfriend returned to her hotel, the pharmacist remained alone with the Head of State.
He claimed that while the two were together, the pharmacist realised that Abacha had become unresponsive.
According to the retired DSS officer, she checked his pulse and found none before informing a soldier on duty that the Head of State had requested transportation for her to return to her hotel.
He further claimed that the woman later boarded an early morning flight to Lagos.
Woman Traced to Lagos, Questioned by DSS
Amachree said the DSS subsequently traced the woman to an address in Ogudu, Lagos, where she was arrested and questioned.
He maintained that the account provided by the woman explained what he described as the “missing window” in the timeline of events surrounding Abacha's death, particularly the period between the departure of senior military officers from the Presidential Villa and the discovery of the former ruler's condition.
Over the years, Abacha's former Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, has maintained that the military ruler's health deteriorated after he shook hands with a member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's entourage during an official visit.
The account has been widely interpreted as suggesting that Abacha may have been poisoned.
Amachree, however, disputed the narrative, arguing that it failed to explain what happened during the period between the departure of senior military officers from the Villa and the discovery that Abacha was in distress.
Amachree Challenges Other Accounts of Abacha's Death
The retired DSS officer also challenged accounts attributed over the years to former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, General Jeremiah Useni; military physician Brigadier-General Oviemo Ovadje; former Minister of Aviation Femi Fani-Kayode; former United States National Security Adviser Susan Rice; and foreign media reports.
He argued that none of the accounts was supported by verifiable evidence.
According to Amachree, while some accounts attributed Abacha's death to longstanding health complications, others alleged foreign involvement or poisoning.
He, however, insisted that the testimony he obtained from the pharmacist remained the most accurate explanation of what happened.
Amachree said the controversy surrounding Abacha's death reflected what he described as a broader culture of misinformation and lack of accountability in Nigeria's leadership history.
He argued that the deliberate suppression of facts had fuelled conspiracy theories for decades and stressed that historical records should be based on verifiable evidence rather than speculation.
Abacha's Death Came During Nigeria's Political Transition
Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 17, 1993, until his death on June 8, 1998, after taking power from the Interim National Government headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan.
His administration was marked by allegations of human rights abuses, the detention of political opponents and the suppression of pro-democracy movements.
His death occurred barely a month before the death in custody of the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (M.K.O.) Abiola, on July 7, 1998.
Before his death, Abacha was widely believed to have been preparing to transform from military ruler to civilian president under a transition programme in which all five registered political parties endorsed him as their sole presidential candidate.
The development prompted the late former Governor of Oyo State, Chief Bola Ige, to famously describe the political parties as “the five fingers of a leprous hand.”
Amachree concluded that Abacha's death demonstrated the temporary nature of political power, warning that no amount of security or authority could shield any leader from mortality.