A retired DSS officer, Dennis Amachree, has claimed that former military ruler Sani Abacha died from cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter in 1998.
A retired senior officer of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has disclosed a new account of the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, nearly 28 years after the incident.
Amachree, a former Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence with the Lagos Command of the DSS, made the revelation in his recently published memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield.
In the book, the retired intelligence officer claimed that Abacha died from a cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter with a woman at the Aso Rock Guest House in Abuja in the early hours of June 8, 1998.
The circumstances surrounding Abacha’s death have remained a subject of public debate for decades.
Although his government announced that he died after a brief illness, several theories have continued to circulate over what may have happened to the military ruler in his final moments.
Amachree’s account offers a different explanation, with the former DSS official insisting that the late Head of State was not assassinated or poisoned, as some long-standing conspiracy theories have suggested.
According to the account contained in his memoir, a woman identified as a pharmacist was with Abacha at the Presidential Villa when he suddenly became unresponsive.
Amachree claimed that the woman had arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House alongside her elder sister, who was reportedly in a relationship with the former military ruler.
After spending some time with Abacha, the elder sister allegedly returned to her hotel, leaving the younger woman behind.
The retired intelligence officer said that at about 4:05 a.m., the pharmacist reportedly realised that Abacha had stopped responding during their intimate encounter.
According to the account, she called out to him but received no response. She allegedly checked his condition and discovered that he had no pulse.
Amachree claimed that the woman became frightened by what she had witnessed and quickly left the premises. He said she reportedly informed a soldier on duty that Abacha had requested a vehicle for her to return to her hotel.
Unaware of the seriousness of the situation, the soldier allegedly assisted her in getting transportation. The woman reportedly returned to her hotel before later travelling to Lagos on an early morning flight.
By the time Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, was reportedly informed about the military ruler’s condition, the woman had already left Abuja, according to Amachree’s account.
The former DSS officer said security operatives subsequently began efforts to locate the woman, who was considered an important witness in the investigation into the sudden death of the Head of State.
Amachree further claimed that the DSS headquarters directed him and his team to trace the woman after she had travelled to Lagos.
According to his account, the woman was eventually located in the Ogudu area of Lagos and brought in for questioning.
Amachree recalled that one of the first things she allegedly told him during the interrogation was that she was not responsible for Abacha’s death.
“I did not kill him, he died on top of me,” Amachree quoted the woman as saying.
The former intelligence officer said the woman’s statement, together with the circumstances surrounding Abacha’s death, led him to conclude that the former military ruler suffered what he described as a “coitus-induced cardiac arrest.”
He argued that this explanation contradicts several theories that have persisted since Abacha’s death, including claims that the former ruler was deliberately poisoned or assassinated.
However, the account remains Amachree’s version of events as presented in his memoir and has not been independently established through a publicly available official autopsy report.
The claims should therefore be understood as an account from a former intelligence officer who said he was involved in the investigation at the time.
Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998, brought an abrupt end to his nearly five-year rule of Nigeria. He had taken power in November 1993 and remained military Head of State until his sudden death at the age of 54.
His passing occurred during a politically tense period in Nigeria’s history, and the lack of publicly available details about his final moments contributed to years of speculation.
Over the years, different accounts have emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, creating a wide range of theories about what happened inside the Presidential Villa that morning.
Amachree’s memoir has now added another account to the historical record, with the former DSS official maintaining that the late military ruler’s death was caused by a cardiac episode rather than a deliberate act of poisoning or assassination.
The publication of DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield has also brought renewed attention to Amachree’s experiences within Nigeria’s intelligence community.
The 348-page memoir reportedly reflects on his years in the security service and provides his perspective on several significant events in Nigeria’s political and security history.
The latest revelation about Abacha’s death is expected to generate further public discussion, particularly because the former military ruler’s final hours have remained one of the country’s most debated historical mysteries.
For nearly three decades, Nigerians have continued to question the exact circumstances surrounding the death of the former Head of State.
While Amachree’s account presents a clear explanation from his perspective, the absence of independently verifiable evidence means that questions about Abacha’s final moments may continue to attract debate.
What remains undisputed is that General Sani Abacha died suddenly on June 8, 1998, bringing an end to one of the most controversial military administrations in Nigeria’s history.
His death paved the way for a transition that eventually led to the emergence of a new civilian government in 1999.
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