A former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has claimed that Nigeria's late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, died from a cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter rather than from the poisoning theories that have circulated for decades.
The retired intelligence officer made the claim in his newly released memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, where he recounted his experience as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos DSS Command when Abacha died in June 1998.
According to Amachree, the late military ruler suffered a fatal cardiac arrest at about 4:05 a.m. inside the Presidential Villa in Abuja during an encounter with a woman he identified only as a pharmacist.
He explained that the woman had travelled to Abuja to attend a professional conference and had accompanied her elder sister, whom he described as Abacha's girlfriend, to the Presidential Villa that night.
Amachree wrote that after the Head of State purchased a new sport utility vehicle for his girlfriend, the sisters visited him at the Aso Rock Guest House. He claimed that the girlfriend later returned to the Nicon Noga Hilton Hotel, leaving her younger sister alone with Abacha.
"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," he wrote.
The former DSS officer alleged that while the two were together, the woman suddenly realised Abacha had become motionless and was no longer responding.
"At about 4.05 am, as they were getting intimate, the pharmacist realised Abacha had stopped moving. She called out to him, but he was unresponsive and stiff. She checked his pulse; there was none."
Amachree further claimed that the woman, frightened by the incident, quickly dressed and left the villa after requesting that a vehicle take her back to her hotel.
According to him, she informed the soldier on duty that the Head of State had instructed that she be driven back before departing the premises.
He said the woman later boarded an early morning flight to Lagos before security agencies became aware of the circumstances surrounding Abacha's death.
Amachree disclosed that after Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Abacha's Chief Security Officer, was informed of the incident around 5:00 a.m., attempts were made to locate the woman, but she had already left Abuja.
He said the DSS headquarters subsequently instructed him to trace and question her in Lagos.
Recalling the interrogation, Amachree said the woman immediately denied any involvement in Abacha's death.
"I did not kill him, he died on top of me," she reportedly told investigators.
Amachree added, "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 retired intelligence officer maintained that the woman's account supports his conclusion that Abacha suffered a cardiac arrest during intercourse and not as a result of poisoning or any other conspiracy that has circulated over the years.
"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," he stated.
General Sani Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death on June 8, 1998, while serving as military Head of State. The circumstances surrounding his sudden death have remained the subject of widespread public debate and conflicting accounts for nearly three decades.
This report is based on claims made by Dennis Amachree in his memoir. No independent official investigation has publicly confirmed his account, and different explanations of Abacha's death have continued to circulate over the years.
ADEOLA KUNLE
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