Fresh Twist: Al-Mustapha Rejects Ex-DSS Officer’s Account Of Abacha’s Final Moments

Former Chief Security Officer to late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), has rejected claims made by former Department of State Services (DSS) official Dennis Amachree regarding the circumstances surrounding Abacha’s death.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

Al-Mustapha dismissed the account on Saturday while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the 3rd General Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference at Arewa House in Kaduna.

He was responding to renewed public attention generated by Amachree’s memoir, The Shadow Warrior, in which the retired DSS officer narrated his version of events leading to Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998.

In the book, Amachree alleged that a woman described as Abacha’s girlfriend arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House in Abuja in the early hours of the day the former Head of State died.

According to Amachree, the woman was accompanied by her younger sister, a pharmacist who was in Abuja for a professional conference. He claimed the younger woman was later left alone with Abacha after her sister returned to the hotel.

The former DSS officer further alleged that at about 4:05 a.m., the woman discovered that Abacha had become unresponsive and could no longer detect a pulse. He claimed she panicked, left the guest house and informed the soldier on duty that the late military ruler had requested a vehicle to take her back to her hotel.

Reacting to the claims, Al-Mustapha described the account as false, alleging that the memoir was written at the behest of unnamed individuals.

“The boy was asked by others to write those lies. I have all the CCTV footage of what happened in my custody, so what he said is not true,” he said.

Al-Mustapha claimed he possesses CCTV footage that contradicts Amachree’s version of events but did not provide further details or indicate whether the alleged evidence would be made public.

He urged Nigerians to disregard the claims, arguing that it was unfair to make allegations against someone who was no longer alive to defend himself.

“Just ignore his lies. It’s bad to say such things about someone who is dead,” he added.

General Sani Abacha seized power on November 17, 1993, and ruled Nigeria until his death at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on June 8, 1998.

Although the Federal Government officially announced that he died after a brief illness, the circumstances surrounding his death have remained the subject of public debate for decades, with former military officers, intelligence officials, diplomats and political figures offering conflicting accounts through books, interviews and public statements.

Throughout the years, Al-Mustapha has consistently defended the late military ruler, maintaining that many allegations against the Abacha administration were politically motivated and unsupported by credible evidence.