Al-Mustapha Denies Abacha Died in bed With Woman, Claims He Has Footage of Ex-Head of State’s Final Moments
Former Chief Security Officer to late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Major Hamzat Al-Mustapha (retd.), has dismissed fresh claims about the circumstances surrounding Abacha’s death, insisting the former military ruler did not die in bed with a woman.
Al-Mustapha was reacting to allegations contained in a new book by former Department of State Services (DSS) operative, Dennis Amachree, which claimed that Abacha suffered a fatal cardiac arrest while having sex with a Nigerian pharmacist in June 1998.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the 3rd General Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference in Kaduna on Saturday, Al-Mustapha described the account as a scripted narrative influenced by unnamed individuals and said it did not reflect what truly happened.
“What has been written is a script. It is not the true account of what happened,” he said, adding that he possesses CCTV footage capturing Abacha’s final moments.
Although he declined to reveal details of how the late military leader died, Al-Mustapha maintained that the truth would eventually emerge. He had previously claimed that Abacha’s death resulted from a handshake with a security aide attached to a visiting foreign dignitary.
The renewed controversy follows the publication of Amachree’s 348-page memoir, DSS @ 40: My Journey Behind the Shield, in which the retired security officer rejected long-standing claims that Abacha died after consuming a poisoned apple allegedly supplied by two Indian women.
According to Amachree, the former Head of State instead suffered a coitus-induced cardiac arrest while with a Nigerian pharmacist.
“The lady pharmacist 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 wrote.
The retired DSS officer further claimed he personally interrogated the woman after Abacha’s death.
“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,” he stated.
General Sani Abacha, who ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death on June 8, 1998, remains one of the country’s most controversial military leaders, with the circumstances surrounding his sudden death continuing to generate debate nearly three decades later.