A former assistant director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has provided a fresh account of the circumstances surrounding the death of former military Head of State, Sani Abacha, claiming the general died during an intimate encounter with an Igbo woman at the presidential villa in Abuja.
Mr Amachree, who served as assistant director of operations and intelligence at the Lagos DSS command when Abacha died, made the disclosure in his book, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, according to The Nation.
Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his sudden death in June 1998. His death has remained the subject of speculation and conspiracy theories, with various accounts emerging over the years about what happened during his final hours.
According to Mr Amachree’s account, Abacha died at about 4:05 a.m. in the presence of a woman during an intimate encounter at the Aso Rock Guest House. The woman, identified as a pharmacist, was reportedly the younger sister of an Igbo woman who was allegedly in a relationship with the late military ruler.
“At approximately 2:40 AM, shortly after General Useni departed, Abacha’s girlfriend, an Igbo woman (name withheld), arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House from the Nicon Noga Hilton Hotel,” excerpts from the book reportedly stated. “Accompanying her was her younger sister, a pharmacist attending a conference in Abuja.”
The account further stated that Abacha’s girlfriend had recently received a new SUV from the military ruler and had gone to visit him with her younger sister. According to Mr Amachree, Abacha became interested in the younger woman, prompting her sister to return to the hotel and leave the pharmacist alone with him.
“Abacha was captivated by the younger sister, and after a brief period, the girlfriend returned to the hotel, leaving the pharmacist alone with the Head of State. At around 4:05 AM, as they were becoming intimate, the pharmacist noticed that Abacha had ceased moving.”
“She called out to him, but he did not respond and appeared stiff. Upon checking his pulse, she found none,” the former DSS official recounted.
Mr Amachree said the woman, frightened by what had happened, dressed quickly and left the guest house after telling the soldier on duty that “Oga” had requested a vehicle to take her back to her hotel. She was reportedly taken to the Hilton before being driven to Abuja Airport to board the 7:00 a.m. Okada Airline flight to Lagos.
“This is the critical moment that Major Al-Mustapha missed. When he was finally alerted to Abacha’s condition at 5:00 AM, he inquired about who had been with the General. He was informed about the girlfriend’s younger sister, who had just been taken to the Hilton,” Mr Amachree said.
The former DSS assistant director said security officials later traced the woman to Lagos, where he interrogated her in Ogudu following instructions from the DSS national headquarters. He recalled that her first response during questioning was: “I did not kill him; he died on top of me.” Mr Amachree said the account offered a different perspective from the “conspiracy theories and half-truths” that have surrounded Abacha’s death.
