Former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), has rejected claims made by former Department of State Services operative, Dennis Amachree, regarding the circumstances surrounding the former military ruler’s death.
Al-Mustapha described the account contained in Amachree’s recently released memoir as false and urged Nigerians to disregard it.
He spoke on the sidelines of the 3rd General Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference held at Arewa House in Kaduna.
Amachree, in his memoir titled DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, alleged that Abacha died of cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in the early hours of June 8, 1998.
The former DSS officer, who served as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos State Command when Abacha died, claimed the former Head of State suffered the fatal medical emergency at about 4:05 a.m.
Responding to the allegations, Al-Mustapha maintained that the account was fabricated and did not reflect what transpired on the day Abacha died.
The retired army officer also claimed to possess evidence capable of disproving the version contained in the memoir but did not disclose the nature of the evidence or indicate whether it would be made public.
According to him, the publication was riddled with falsehoods and should not be regarded as an accurate account of the events surrounding Abacha’s death.
He further argued that it was inappropriate to make allegations against a deceased person who could no longer defend himself, urging Nigerians to ignore the claims.
Abacha seized power in a military coup on November 17, 1993, and remained Nigeria’s Head of State until his death at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on June 8, 1998.
The Federal Government announced at the time that the former military leader died after a brief illness, but the circumstances surrounding his death have remained a subject of public debate.
Over the years, former military officers, intelligence operatives, diplomats and political figures have offered conflicting accounts of Abacha’s final hours, fuelling continued controversy nearly three decades after his death.
Al-Mustapha, one of Abacha’s closest aides and among the last senior officials to have direct access to him before his death, has consistently challenged narratives he believes misrepresent the events surrounding the late Head of State’s final moments.