A former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has offered a fresh account of the circumstances surrounding the death of former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
Abacha, who ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death in June 1998, died while still in office, an incident that has remained the subject of speculation and conspiracy theories for decades.
Amachree presented his version of events in his new book, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, according to excerpts published by The Nation.
The former intelligence officer said he was serving as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos command of the then State Security Service when the military ruler died.
According to Amachree, a woman described as Abacha’s girlfriend arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House in Abuja in the early hours of the day he died.
He said she was accompanied by her younger sister, a pharmacist who was in Abuja for a professional conference.
“At approximately 2.40 am, shortly after Gen. Useni left, Abacha’s girlfriend, an Igbo lady, arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House from the Nicon Noga Hilton Hotel,” the book stated.
Amachree said the younger woman was later left alone with Abacha after her sister returned to the hotel.
He claimed that at about 4.05 am, the woman noticed that the former Head of State had become unresponsive and could no longer detect a pulse.
The retired DSS official said the woman panicked, left the guest house and told the soldier on duty that Abacha had requested a vehicle to return her to the hotel.
“The soldier, unaware of the gravity of the situation, promptly arranged for her transportation,” he wrote.
According to Amachree, the woman returned to the hotel, informed her sister of what had happened and was taken to the airport to board an early flight to Lagos.
He said security officials later tried to locate her after Abacha’s aides became aware of the situation.
“The State Security Service 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,” he stated.
DSS Located Witness In Lagos
Amachree said he was subsequently contacted by the Director of Operations at the DSS headquarters and directed to locate the woman in Lagos.
According to him, his team found her in the Ogudu area of the state and took her in for questioning.
“My team located and brought her to my office. I interrogated her myself,” he said.
Amachree quoted the woman as immediately denying responsibility for Abacha’s death.
“The first thing she said to me was, ‘I did not kill him; he died on top of me,’” he wrote.
He said the woman provided a detailed account of the incident before she was flown back to Abuja.
The former DSS officer argued that the woman’s account contradicted several stories that had circulated about Abacha’s death, including claims involving foreign women and poisoned fruit.
He said her testimony suggested that the former military ruler suffered a sudden cardiac emergency.
“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,” Amachree wrote.
His account represents his recollection of the incident and has not been independently verified in the published excerpts. Abacha died on June 8, 1998, while serving as Nigeria’s military Head of State.
His death occurred about one month before that of Moshood Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election.
Abiola had been detained by the Abacha government after declaring himself president and was accused of treason.
