Amachree made the claim in his newly released book, ‘DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield’, in which he recounted what he described as the events surrounding Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998.
At the time, he served as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos DSS Command.
According to Amachree, the events began after Abacha’s girlfriend arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House with her younger sister, a pharmacist who was in Abuja for a conference.
He wrote, “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.”
He added, “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’.”
According to him, “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.”
Amachree claimed that the former military ruler became unresponsive during the encounter.
He wrote, “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.”
He said the woman panicked and left the Presidential Villa without alerting anyone to what had happened.
“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,” he wrote.
According to Amachree, “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.”
The retired DSS officer said security operatives later realised she had been with Abacha shortly before his death.
“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.”
He added, “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 the woman was later traced to Lagos, where he personally interrogated her before she was flown back to Abuja.
Recalling the encounter, he wrote, “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.’”
He added, “After her detailed account, I called the Director in Abuja, and she was immediately flown back.”
Amachree maintained that her testimony settled the controversy surrounding Abacha’s death.
“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 wrote.
Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death in June 1998. His administration remains one of the country’s most controversial, with allegations of widespread human rights abuses and political repression.
His death came less than a month before the death in detention of Chief M.K.O. Abiola, widely regarded as the winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election.
