Former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), has rejected allegations contained in a memoir by retired Department of State Services (DSS) officer Dennis Amachree concerning the circumstances surrounding Abacha’s death, describing the account as untrue.
Speaking to journalists after the 3rd General Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference at Arewa House in Kaduna on Saturday, Al-Mustapha insisted that the version of events presented in the book should not be taken seriously by Nigerians.
His comments come amid renewed debate over Amachree’s memoir, The Shadow Warrior, in which the former intelligence operative offered his personal account of the events leading to the death of the late military ruler on June 8, 1998.
Refuting the claims outright, Al-Mustapha alleged that the publication did not present an accurate account of what transpired.
“The boy was asked by others to write those lies. I have all the CCTV footage of what happened in my custody, so what he said is not true,” Al-Mustapha said.
The retired army officer maintained that he possesses evidence capable of disproving the narrative contained in the memoir but did not provide further details about the alleged footage or indicate whether he planned to release it publicly.
He also appealed to Nigerians to disregard the claims, arguing that it was unfair to level accusations against someone who was no longer alive to respond.
“Just ignore his lies. It’s bad to say such things about someone who is dead,” he said.
General Sani Abacha assumed power on November 17, 1993, following a military coup and remained Nigeria’s Head of State until his sudden death at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on June 8, 1998.
At the time, the Federal Government announced that Abacha had died after a sudden illness. However, the circumstances surrounding his death have continued to generate speculation and remain one of the most debated episodes in Nigeria’s political history.
Over the years, former military officers, intelligence officials, diplomats and political figures have offered varying accounts of the late Head of State’s final hours through books, interviews and public statements, often presenting conflicting narratives.
Amachree, who retired as an Assistant Director of the DSS and served during the Abacha administration, recently reignited the long-running controversy with the publication of The Shadow Warrior, where he recounted his version of the events surrounding Abacha’s death.
The memoir has since prompted reactions from several former officials associated with the military government, including Al-Mustapha, who has consistently challenged accounts he believes distort the legacy of the late Head of State or misrepresent events during that era.
Al-Mustapha himself has remained a prominent and controversial figure in Nigeria’s political history. After Abacha’s death, he was arrested in 1999 and faced trial over the attempted murder of publisher Alex Ibru and the killing of Kudirat Abiola, wife of the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola.
He spent more than a decade in detention before the Court of Appeal, in 2013, discharged and acquitted him of the charges.
Since his release, the former Chief Security Officer has repeatedly defended the Abacha administration, maintaining that many of the allegations levelled against the late military government and its officials were politically motivated or unsupported by credible evidence.
(Ripples)