…says woman confessed during interrogation late head of state ‘died on top of me’
. Discloses woman involved was a pharmacist, escaped from Aso Rock after Abacha gave up ghost
A former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services, Dennis Amachree, has claimed that former military head of state, late Gen. Sani Abacha, died from a cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter with his girlfriend.
Amachree made the claims in his newly released memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, excerpts of which were published by The Nation on Tuesday.
The retired intelligence officer also dismissed long-standing conspiracy theories surrounding the circumstances of the late dictator’s death.
Amachree, who served as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos DSS Command when Abacha died in June 1998, said the late military ruler suffered the fatal episode at about 4:05 a.m. at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
According to Amachree, the woman who was with Abacha at the time panicked after discovering he had become unresponsive and left the Presidential Villa before the incident became known to security officials.
He alleged that the woman, described as a pharmacist who was in Abuja for a conference, had accompanied her elder sister, said to have been Abacha’s girlfriend, to Aso Rock earlier that night.
“At approximately 2.40 am, shortly after Gen. Useni left, Abacha’s girlfriend, an Igbo lady (name withheld), 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’.
“Abacha was taken with the younger sister, and after a short while, the girlfriend returned to the hotel, leaving the pharmacist alone with the Head of State,” he wrote.
Amachree further claimed that the woman realised Abacha was no longer responding during the encounter.
“At about 4.05 am, 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.”
Amachree also claimed that the woman left the villa after requesting transport back to her hotel.
“In a state of panic, she quickly dressed and left the guest house, telling the soldier on guard duty that ‘Oga’ had asked for a car to take her back to her hotel.”
According to Amachree, she later travelled to Lagos on an early morning flight before security agencies could question her.
He claimed that when Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, was informed of the military ruler’s condition around 5 a.m., efforts were made to trace the woman, but she had already departed Abuja.
Amachree said he was later directed by the DSS headquarters to locate and interrogate her in Lagos.
Recalling the encounter, he quoted the woman as saying, “I did not kill him, he died on top of me.”
He added,”My team located and brought her to my office. I interrogated her myself. 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.”
Amachree argued that the woman’s account contradicted several theories that have circulated over the years regarding Abacha’s death.
“The lady pharmacist’s account, 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,” he said.
PUNCH Online reports that Abacha, who ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death on June 8, 1998, died while in office.
His sudden death has remained the subject of speculation for nearly three decades, with numerous conflicting accounts emerging over the years.
(Source: Punch except the headline)
