Nearly three decades after the death of former military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, a former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has alleged that the late military ruler died of a cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter, dismissing long-standing conspiracy theories surrounding his death.
Amachree made the claims in his newly released memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, excerpts of which were published by The Nation on Tuesday.
The retired intelligence officer, who served as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos DSS Command when Abacha died in June 1998, said the former Head of State suffered a fatal cardiac arrest at about 4:05 a.m. at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
According to Amachree, the woman who was with Abacha panicked after discovering he had become unresponsive and left the Presidential Villa before the incident became known to security officials.
He alleged that the woman, a pharmacist who was in Abuja for a conference, had accompanied her elder sister, whom he described as Abacha’s girlfriend, to the Presidential Villa earlier that night.
According to the memoir, after the elder sister returned to her hotel, the pharmacist remained alone with the Head of State.
Amachree further alleged that during their intimate encounter, the woman realised Abacha had stopped responding. She reportedly checked his pulse but found none before hurriedly leaving the villa after requesting transport back to her hotel.
He claimed the woman boarded an early morning flight to Lagos before security agencies became aware of the incident.
According to Amachree, when Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, was informed of the military ruler’s condition around 5 a.m., efforts were made to trace the woman. He said he was subsequently directed by the DSS headquarters to locate and interrogate her in Lagos.
Recalling the encounter, Amachree quoted the woman as saying, “I did not kill him; he died on top of me.”
He said her account formed the basis of his conclusion that Abacha died of a coitus-induced cardiac arrest, arguing that it contradicts the numerous conspiracy theories that have surrounded the late military ruler’s death for nearly three decades.
Gen. Sani Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death on June 8, 1998. His sudden death while in office has remained one of the country’s most debated historical events, with differing accounts continuing to emerge over the years.
