Former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, has dismissed fresh claims by ex-DSS operative Dennis Amachree on the circumstances surrounding Abacha’s death, describing the account as false.
Speaking with journalists in Kaduna, Al-Mustapha said the details contained in the former operative’s book were untrue and alleged that the author was influenced to make the claims.
“The boy was asked to write the lies by others. I have all the CCTV footages of what happened in my custody, so what he said is not true,” Al-Mustapha said.
He insisted that the publication did not reflect what transpired on the night of Abacha’s death in June 1998, and urged the public to disregard the claims.
“It is wrong to make false statements against someone who is no longer alive to respond. Just ignore his lies,” he added.
What Amachree claimed
In excerpts from the book, Amachree alleged that in the early hours of the day Abacha died, the late Head of State was at the Aso Rock Guest House with a female pharmacist.
According to 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 younger sister, a pharmacist who was in Abuja for a conference.”
Amachree claimed the girlfriend later left, leaving the pharmacist with Abacha. He alleged that at about 4:05 a.m., “as they were getting intimate, the pharmacist realized Abacha had stopped moving. She checked his pulse; there was none.”
He further claimed the woman dressed and left the guest house, telling the guard that “Oga” had asked for a car to take her back to her hotel. She was then driven to Abuja Airport to catch a 7:00 a.m. flight to Lagos.
Amachree said he later interrogated the pharmacist in Lagos on the orders of the DSS Director of Operations. “The first thing she said to me was: ‘I did not kill him, he died on top of me,’” he wrote.
He said he immediately reported the matter to the Director of National Operations in Abuja and had the woman returned to the capital.