Ex-DSS Officer Claims Abacha Died of Cardiac Arrest During Intercourse, Not Poisoning
By Sabiu Abdullahi
A former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has offered his account of the circumstances surrounding the death of Nigeria’s former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, in June 1998.
Amachree made the claims in his newly released book, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield. He said Abacha suffered a cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter with a female pharmacist at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
According to excerpts from the book published by The Nation, Amachree, who served as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos DSS Command at the time, said the incident occurred at about 4:05 a.m.
He wrote that the pharmacist had arrived at Aso Rock alongside her elder sister, who was allegedly Abacha’s girlfriend. He said the elder sister later returned to her hotel and left the younger woman with the military ruler.
Amachree stated that after Abacha became unresponsive, the pharmacist left the villa and told a soldier on duty that the Head of State had requested a vehicle to take her back to her hotel. She later travelled to Lagos on an early morning flight before security officials became aware of the situation.
The former DSS officer claimed security personnel later traced the woman to Lagos after receiving instructions from the agency’s headquarters.
Recalling the interrogation, Amachree quoted the pharmacist as saying, “I did not kill him, he died on top of me.”
He further wrote: “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 contradicts longstanding claims that Abacha’s death resulted from poisoning or other alleged conspiracies.
He concluded: “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.”
Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death in June 1998. His sudden passing has remained the subject of public debate and conspiracy theories for nearly three decades.