A retired Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has claimed that former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, died during an intimate encounter with a woman in the early hours of June 8, 1998, dismissing long-standing theories that the late ruler was assassinated or poisoned.
Gatekeepers News reports that Amachree made the claim in his newly released 348-page memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, where he recounted his involvement in the investigation that followed Abacha’s sudden death.
According to the retired intelligence officer, Abacha suffered what he described as a coitus-induced cardiac arrest at about 4:05 a.m. inside the Aso Rock Presidential Villa Guest House in Abuja.
He alleged that the woman involved, whom he identified only as a pharmacist, fled to Lagos shortly after the incident but was later traced and interrogated by the DSS.
“The first thing she said to me was, ‘I did not kill him, he died on top of me,’” Amachree wrote, adding that after taking her statement, he contacted the DSS Director of Operations in Abuja, who ordered that she be flown back to the Federal Capital Territory.
Amachree, who was serving as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos State SSS Command at the time, said his account represents the true sequence of events and should put to rest years of speculation surrounding Abacha’s death.
He argued that widely circulated claims that the former military ruler died after eating a poisoned apple, receiving a poisoned handshake or as the victim of a foreign intelligence operation were not supported by evidence.
According to the memoir, Abacha’s companion had arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House with her younger sister, a pharmacist who was attending a conference in Abuja. Amachree alleged that after the woman returned to her hotel, the pharmacist remained alone with the Head of State.
He claimed that during their encounter, the pharmacist noticed Abacha had become unresponsive. After checking his pulse and finding none, she reportedly informed a soldier on duty that the Head of State had requested transport back to her hotel before boarding an early morning flight to Lagos.
The retired DSS officer said security operatives later traced her to an address in Ogudu, Lagos, where she was arrested and questioned.
Challenges Existing Narratives
Amachree maintained that his account explains what he described as the “missing window” in the timeline presented by Abacha’s former Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha.
Al-Mustapha has consistently maintained that Abacha’s health deteriorated after shaking hands with a member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s entourage during an official visit, a claim widely interpreted as suggesting poisoning.
However, Amachree argued that the account did not explain what transpired between the departure of senior military officers from the Presidential Villa and the discovery of Abacha’s condition.
He also questioned accounts previously offered by former Federal Capital Territory Minister, Gen. Jeremiah Useni; military physician Brig.-Gen. Oviemo Ovadje; former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode; former United States National Security Adviser Susan Rice; and reports published by foreign media.
According to him, while some accounts linked Abacha’s death to underlying health conditions and others suggested poisoning or foreign involvement, none was supported by verifiable evidence.
Amachree insisted that the testimony obtained from the pharmacist provided the most credible explanation of the events surrounding the late military ruler’s death.
Calls for Historical Accuracy
The retired intelligence officer argued that decades of speculation over Abacha’s death reflect a broader culture of misinformation and secrecy in Nigeria’s political history.
He said historical accounts should be based on verifiable evidence rather than conspiracy theories, adding that deliberate suppression of facts had fuelled public uncertainty for years.
General Sani Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 17, 1993, until his death on June 8, 1998, after seizing power from the Interim National Government led by Chief Ernest Shonekan.
His administration was widely criticised over allegations of human rights abuses, the detention of political opponents and the suppression of pro-democracy movements.
Abacha died barely one month before the death in detention of the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (M.K.O.) Abiola, on July 7, 1998.
Before his death, Abacha was widely believed to have been preparing to transition from military ruler to civilian president under a programme in which all five registered political parties endorsed him as their sole presidential candidate—a development that prompted the late former Oyo State Governor, Chief Bola Ige, to famously describe the parties as “the five fingers of a leprous hand.”
Amachree concluded that Abacha’s death serves as a reminder of the transient nature of political power, arguing that no level of authority or security can shield any leader from mortality.
