Former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has claimed that Nigeria’s former military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, died of a cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter, dismissing decades-long claims that the late ruler was poisoned with apples.

The revelation is contained in Amachree’s newly released memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, excerpts of which were published by The Nation on Tuesday.

According to Amachree, who served as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos DSS Command when Abacha died in June 1998, the former military leader suffered the fatal cardiac arrest at about 4:05 a.m. inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The alleged woman

He alleged that the woman who was with Abacha at the time panicked after discovering he had become unresponsive and quietly left the Presidential Villa before security officials became aware of the incident.

Amachree claimed the woman, a pharmacist who was in Abuja for a conference, had accompanied her elder sister, described as Abacha’s girlfriend, to Aso Rock earlier that night.

According to him, after the elder sister returned to the hotel, Abacha requested that the younger sister remain behind with him.

“At approximately 2:40 a.m., shortly after Gen. Useni left, Abacha’s girlfriend… arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House from the Nicon Noga Hilton Hotel. With her was her younger sister, a pharmacist who was in Abuja for a conference. The Head of State had just bought his girlfriend a new SUV, and they decided to stop by to say hello to ‘Oga’,” Amachree wrote.

He further alleged that during the intimate encounter, the woman suddenly noticed that Abacha had stopped responding.

“At about 4:05 a.m., as they were getting intimate, the pharmacist realised Abacha had stopped moving. She called out to him, but he was unresponsive and stiff. She checked his pulse; there was none.”

The retired DSS operative said the woman quickly dressed up, requested transport back to her hotel and later boarded an early morning flight to Lagos before security agencies could question her.

Al-Mustapha’s involvement

According to Amachree, Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, was informed of the situation around 5:00 a.m., after which efforts were made to locate the woman.

He said he was subsequently directed by the DSS headquarters to trace and interrogate her in Lagos.

Recalling the interrogation, Amachree quoted the woman as saying:

“I did not kill him; he died on top of me.”

He added that after obtaining her account, she was immediately flown back to Abuja.

Amachree maintained that the woman’s testimony represents the true account of Abacha’s death and effectively debunks the long-standing theories that the former military ruler was assassinated or poisoned.

Gen. Sani Abacha, who ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death on June 8, 1998, died while still in office. His sudden death has remained one of the country’s most controversial historical events, with several conflicting accounts circulating for nearly three decades.