A former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services, Dennis Amachree, has claimed that former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, died of cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter with a young pharmacist at the Aso Rock Guest House in Abuja.
Amachree made the claim in his newly released 348-page memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, where he presented what he described as the account of the woman allegedly with Abacha shortly before his death on June 8, 1998.
The retired intelligence officer, who was Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos State Command of the then State Security Service at the time, rejected long-running claims that Abacha died after eating poisoned apples or was killed in a foreign-backed plot.
According to Amachree, Abacha’s girlfriend arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House from the Nicon Noga Hilton Hotel at about 2:40 a.m. on the day of his death. He claimed that she was accompanied by her younger sister, an Igbo pharmacist who was in Abuja for a professional conference.
He said Abacha had recently bought the girlfriend a sport utility vehicle and that the two women had gone to the guest house to greet him. Amachree alleged that the former military ruler became interested in the younger sister, after which the girlfriend returned to the hotel, leaving the pharmacist alone with him.
The former DSS officer claimed that at about 4:05 a.m., while the two were getting intimate, the pharmacist noticed that Abacha had become motionless and unresponsive. He said she called out to him, checked his pulse and found no sign of life.
Amachree said the woman panicked, dressed hurriedly and left the guest house without immediately alerting security personnel. According to him, she told the soldier on guard duty that Abacha had directed that a vehicle should take her back to her hotel.
The soldier, unaware of what had allegedly happened, reportedly arranged transport for her. She returned to the hotel, informed her elder sister of the incident, and was taken to the airport to board an early-morning Okada Airline flight to Lagos.
Amachree said Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, was later informed of the former ruler’s condition at about 5 a.m. and asked who had been with him. Security operatives were reportedly told about the pharmacist, but by the time they arrived at the hotel, she had already left Abuja.
The retired DSS officer said the Director of Operations at the SSS headquarters later contacted him in Lagos and directed his team to locate and arrest the woman. He said operatives traced her to an address in Ogudu, Lagos, brought her to his office, and he personally interrogated her.
According to him, the first statement she made was: “I did not kill him, he died on top of me.”
Amachree said the woman then gave a detailed account of what happened, after which he contacted the Director of Operations in Abuja and arranged for her immediate return to the Federal Capital Territory.
He maintained that the pharmacist’s testimony remains the most credible account of Abacha’s final moments because she was allegedly the only person with him when he became unresponsive.
He described the death as a cardiac arrest induced during sexual activity and said the account should put an end to what he called conspiracy theories and half-truths surrounding Abacha’s death.
Amachree also addressed several competing narratives that have circulated for decades, including claims of poisoned apples, foreign intelligence involvement, poisoned handshakes and imported prostitutes.
He rejected the account attributed to an unnamed diplomat in a report by David Orr of The Irish Times, which suggested that Abacha was poisoned by disaffected military officers. According to him, that version was contradicted by reports citing autopsy findings that ruled out poisoning.
He also dismissed references to claims echoed by former United States National Security Adviser Susan Rice, which linked Abacha’s death to rumours about prostitutes and possible drug use, saying the version lacked concrete evidence.
Amachree further faulted Al-Mustapha’s public account that Abacha’s health declined after a handshake with a security guard attached to a visiting dignitary. He said Al-Mustapha’s version contained gaps, particularly the period after the departure of the late General Jeremiah Useni and before the former Head of State was found unresponsive.
He also disagreed with Useni’s account, which supported the official position that Abacha died of natural causes, and rejected the medical explanation attributed to Brigadier-General Oviemo Ovadje, which suggested that the death resulted from long-term health issues and poor medical management.
Amachree also dismissed claims by former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode alleging a CIA-linked plot involving a poisoned handshake, describing such theories as unsupported.
The former DSS officer said he decided to provide what he considered the true account because the mystery surrounding Abacha’s death had been clouded by speculation, misinformation and politically convenient narratives.
He said the confusion surrounding the death reflected a broader problem in Nigeria’s leadership culture, which he described as being marked by falsehood, suppression of facts and lack of accountability.
Amachree said the deliberate promotion of misinformation by people who should be held to a higher standard had helped keep the country in what he described as a retrogressive cycle.
He also used Abacha’s death as a warning about the temporary nature of power, saying the former military ruler had surrounded himself with heavy security but could not escape death when the time came.
Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his sudden death on June 8, 1998, at the age of 54. His death paved the way for General Abdulsalami Abubakar to assume office and begin the transition that eventually led to the return of civilian rule on May 29, 1999.
Abacha died barely one month before the death of Chief Moshood Abiola, winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, who was then in detention.
Amachree’s account is presented as his personal recollection of events and of an interrogation he said he conducted in 1998. No official DSS statement confirming the account accompanied the publication of the memoir, and the woman referred to in the narrative was not publicly identified.
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