Retired Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has challenged Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), former Chief Security Officer to late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, to produce CCTV footage of the military ruler’s final hours if he disputes the account contained in his memoir.
Amachree issued the challenge while reacting to Al-Mustapha’s dismissal of claims contained in his recently released 348-page book, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield.
In the memoir, Amachree claimed that Abacha died at about 4:05 a.m. on June 8, 1998, after suffering what he described as a coitus-induced cardiac arrest inside the Presidential Villa Guest House in Abuja.
The retired DSS officer said he was involved in the investigation that followed the former military ruler’s sudden death, insisting that the account published in his book was based on his direct experience and knowledge of the incident.
However, Al-Mustapha dismissed the account as false and urged Nigerians not to believe the claims.
Reacting to the former CSO’s comments in an interview, Amachree challenged him to provide evidence to support his position rather than simply rejecting the account.
“If he says what I wrote is false, let him produce the CCTV footage of what happened,” Amachree said.
He maintained that disagreements over the circumstances surrounding Abacha’s death should be resolved through verifiable facts rather than personal attacks.
Amachree also defended his professional credentials, noting that he retired from the DSS as an Assistant Director, a position he said was equivalent to the rank of Brigadier in the Nigerian Army.
“I retired as an Assistant Director, which in army terms is equivalent to a Brigadier, while Al-Mustapha retired as a Major,” he said.
The exchange has renewed public interest in the circumstances surrounding Abacha’s sudden death in June 1998, with conflicting accounts continuing to emerge nearly three decades after the former military ruler died.
