Former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), has dismissed claims made by former Department of State Services (DSS) operative Dennis Amachree about the late military ruler’s final moments, describing them as false and urging Nigerians to disregard them.
Al-Mustapha spoke with journalists on the sidelines of the 3rd General Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference at Arewa House, Kaduna, on Saturday.
His remarks followed renewed public interest in Amachree’s memoir, The Shadow Warrior, in which the retired DSS officer recounted his version of the events surrounding Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998.
Rejecting the account, Al-Mustapha alleged that the memoir contained fabricated claims that did not reflect 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 major claimed he possessed evidence capable of disproving the version of events presented in the memoir but did not elaborate on the alleged footage or indicate whether he intended to make it public.
He urged Nigerians not to give credence to the claims, arguing that it was unfair to make allegations against someone who could no longer respond.
“Just ignore his lies. It’s bad to say such things about someone who is dead,” he said.
Abacha, who seized power in a military coup on November 17, 1993, ruled Nigeria until his sudden death at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on June 8, 1998.
At the time, the Federal Government announced that the Head of State had died after a sudden illness. However, the circumstances surrounding his death have remained one of the most disputed episodes in Nigeria’s political history.
Over the years, former military officers, intelligence operatives, diplomats and political figures have offered conflicting accounts of Abacha’s final hours through books, interviews and public statements.
Amachree, a retired Assistant Director of the DSS who served during the Abacha administration, recently reignited the debate in The Shadow Warrior by presenting his account of the events leading to the late military ruler’s death.
The publication has since drawn reactions from several former officials who served under the Abacha regime, including Al-Mustapha, who has consistently rejected narratives he believes misrepresent the late Head of State or the events of that period.
Al-Mustapha remains one of the most controversial figures associated with the Abacha era. Following the former Head of State’s death, he was arrested in 1999 and later stood trial over the attempted murder of publisher Alex Ibru and the murder of Kudirat Abiola, wife of the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola.
After spending more than a decade in detention, he was discharged and acquitted by the Court of Appeal in 2013.
Since regaining his freedom, Al-Mustapha has continued to defend the Abacha administration, maintaining that many allegations against the late military ruler and members of his government were politically motivated or unsupported by evidence.
