“Abacha died of cardiac arrest during sexual intercourse, not poisoning” – Former DSS Director

A former deputy director of the Department of State Services, Dennis Amachree, has said Nigeria’s late head of state, General Sani Abacha, died of cardiac arrest during an intimate gathering at the presidential villa in Abuja, dismissing years of conspiracy theories about the military ruler’s death.

Amachree made the revelation in her newly released memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, where she recounted what she described as the events leading up to Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998.

The retired intelligence officer, who was then serving as Deputy Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos Command of the then State Security Service, said his account was based on official investigations conducted shortly after the incident.

According to him, Abacha died around 4.05am after suffering what he described as a “coitus-induced cardiac arrest” while he was with a pharmacist inside the presidential villa.

Amachree said the woman, who had accompanied her older sister – described as Abacha’s girlfriend – to Aso Rock that night, fled the villa after finding the military commander unresponsive.

He explained that the older sister then returned to her hotel, leaving the pharmacist alone with Abacha.

The former DSS officer wrote that after noticing that Abacha had stopped responding during the encounter, the woman checked his pulse but found none.

In a panic, she reportedly informed a soldier on duty that the Head of State had asked to be taken back to his hotel.

“The soldier, unaware of what had happened, arranged transportation for her,” Amachree said.

He added that the woman then left Abuja for Lagos on board a commercial flight early in the morning before security officers realized that she was the last person seen with the late military leader.

According to Amachree, security agencies immediately began efforts to locate her after Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Abacha’s security chief, was informed of the head of state’s worsening condition at around 5 am.

He said DSS operatives traced the woman to Lagos, where he personally interrogated her.

Recalling the interrogation, Amachree said the woman repeatedly insisted she was not involved in Abacha’s death.

“The first thing he said was, ‘I didn’t kill him; he died on me,'” she said.

The retired intelligence officer argued that the woman’s statement and subsequent investigations disproved several narratives that have circulated over the years, including claims that Abacha was poisoned by foreign women or died after eating a poisoned apple.

He claimed that the results of the security investigation established that the former military chief died of cardiac arrest during the intimate encounter.

Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death in June 1998.

His sudden passing triggered widespread speculation, with numerous conflicting accounts emerging over the years regarding the circumstances of his death.

His regime has been widely criticized by local and international human rights groups for alleged widespread human rights abuses, repression of dissent, and imprisonment of pro-democracy activists, including the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.

Abiola died in government custody about a month after Abacha’s death as the country was going through a political transition.

Amachree’s latest account has reopened public debate on one of the most controversial episodes in Nigeria’s political history, even though her claims are based on her personal recollections and the account of the official investigation contained in her memoirs.

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