A former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has offered fresh revelations regarding the death of former military ruler General Sani Abacha, alleging in his newly published memoir that the late head of state died during an intimate encounter with his girlfriend’s younger sister.
Abacha, who ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his sudden demise in June 1998, has long been the subject of intense speculation and conspiracy theories surrounding his death.
Writing in his new book, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, Amachree—who served as the Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos DSS Command at the time—recounted that Abacha passed away around 4:05 a.m. at the Presidential Villa in Abuja while in the company of a woman.
According to the retired intelligence officer, the lady fled Aso Rock shortly after realizing the military dictator was unresponsive, eventually boarding an early morning flight to Lagos.
Amachree noted that she and her elder sister—who was Abacha’s girlfriend—had visited the villa together earlier that night, before the older sister left her younger sibling alone with Abacha.
“At approximately 2.40 a.m., 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,” the book states.
“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’.”
“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.”
“At about 4.05 a.m., as they were getting intimate, the pharmacist realised Abacha had stopped moving. She called out to him, but he was unresponsive and stiff. She checked his pulse; there was none.”
Amachree stated that the panicked woman hurriedly got dressed and informed the security guard on duty that the Head of State had directed that a vehicle transport her back to her hotel.
“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 book added.
Amachree explained that by the time Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, was alerted around 5:00 a.m., the woman had already left Abuja. Although security operatives moved to arrest the older sister at the Hilton Hotel, the younger sister was already en route to Lagos.
Following instructions from the Director of Operations at the DSS national headquarters, Amachree led the team that tracked down and interrogated the pharmacist in Ogudu, Lagos.
“My team located and brought her to my office. I interrogated her myself,” Amachree wrote.
“The first thing she said to me was: ‘I did not kill him, he died on top of me.’ After her detailed account, I called the Director in Abuja, and she was immediately flown back.”
“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 maintained that the lady’s account directly disproves lingering conspiracy theories about Abacha’s death, including rumors of poisoned apples or imported foreign women.
General Abacha died on June 8, 1998, just weeks before the death of Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, who died in government custody.
