Al-Mustapha to ex-DSS officer: You lied on Abacha’s cause of death
July 26, 2026 12:43 am
Late Gen. Sani Abacha
Former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha, Maj Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), has dismissed claims made by a former operative of the Department of State Services, Dennis Amachree, over the final moments of the late military ruler.
Al-Mustapha described Amachree’s claim that Abacha died from cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter with his girlfriend as false and urged Nigerians not to believe the account.
He spoke with journalists on the sidelines of the 3rd General Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference held at Arewa House, Kaduna.
In his newly released memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, Amachree, who served as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos DSS Command when Abacha died on June 8, 1998, said the late military ruler suffered the fatal episode at about 4:05am at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Rejecting the claims, Al-Mustapha alleged that the former security operative’s account was fabricated and did not reflect what transpired.
The retired army major maintained that he possessed evidence capable of contradicting the version of events contained in Amachree’s publication.
However, Al-Mustapha did not elaborate on the nature of the evidence or indicate whether he intended to make it public.
“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,” Al-Mustapha said.
He urged Nigerians to disregard the claims, insisting that it was wrong to make allegations against a deceased person who could no longer defend himself.
“Just ignore his lies. It’s bad to say such things about someone who is dead,” he said.
Abacha, who took power in a military coup on November 17, 1993, ruled the country until his sudden death at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on June 8, 1998
The Federal Government announced at the time that the Head of State died after a sudden illness, but the circumstances surrounding his death have remained one of the most controversial episodes in the country’s political history.
Over the years, conflicting accounts have emerged from former military officers, intelligence operatives, diplomats and political actors, with various books and interviews offering different versions of what happened during Abacha’s final hours.
The differing narratives have continued to fuel public debate nearly three decades after his death.
Al-Mustapha, one of Abacha’s closest aides and perhaps the last senior official to have had direct access to him before his death, has consistently rejected allegations and narratives he believes misrepresent the late Head of State or the events of that period.
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