• ‘Author is acting out a script, I will expose the truth at the appropriate time’
KADUNA, Nigeria – Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), former Chief Security Officer to late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, has dismissed claims by retired Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, that Abacha died during an intimate encounter with a woman.
Al-Mustapha, who spoke with journalists in Kaduna, described the account contained in Amachree’s newly released memoir as false, alleging that the former DSS operative was influenced by others to publish the claim.
According to him, he has CCTV footage documenting what transpired around the time of Abacha’s death, insisting that the account presented by Amachree was inaccurate.
“The boy was asked to write the lies by others. I have all the CCTV footages of what happened in my custody, so what he said are not true,” Al-Mustapha said.
The former security chief urged Nigerians to disregard the claim, arguing that it was unfair to make allegations against Abacha, who is no longer alive to respond.
“Just ignore his lies. It’s bad to say such things on someone that is dead,” he said.
Al-Mustapha further alleged that Amachree was not acting independently and hinted that he would respond to the claims with what he described as evidence at the appropriate time.
“But I want to assure you that the author of the book is acting out a script. He is not acting alone. At the appropriate time, I will respond to these lies. You don’t tell your enemies your plans,” he added.
The controversy followed claims by Amachree in his 348-page memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, that Abacha died during an intimate encounter with a woman in the early hours of June 8, 1998.
Amachree, who recounted his alleged involvement in the investigation that followed Abacha’s sudden death, claimed that the former military ruler 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 further claimed that the woman, whom he identified only as a pharmacist, was later traced to Lagos and interrogated after the DSS received intelligence that she had fled Abuja.
Al-Mustapha’s latest comments have now reignited debate over the circumstances surrounding Abacha’s death, with the former CSO insisting that the account published by Amachree does not reflect what actually happened.
