Retired Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has challenged former Chief Security Officer to late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), to release CCTV footage from the Presidential Villa if he disputes claims made about Abacha’s death in his newly published memoir.
The challenge comes after Al-Mustapha rejected Amachree’s account in his book, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, where the retired intelligence officer alleged that the late military ruler died after suffering a coitus-induced cardiac arrest in the early hours of June 8, 1998.
Al-Mustapha had dismissed the claim as false and urged Nigerians not to believe the account contained in the memoir.
Reacting in a telephone interview with The Nation, Amachree insisted that Al-Mustapha should provide evidence to back his denial instead of merely rejecting the claims.
“If he says what I wrote is false, let him produce the CCTV footage of what happened,” Amachree said.
The retired DSS officer argued that disagreements over the incident should be resolved with verifiable evidence rather than personal attacks.
According to him, simply describing his account as false does not invalidate the details contained in his book.
Amachree also defended his professional background, saying his experience in the intelligence service gives credibility to his account of the events surrounding Abacha’s death.
“I retired as an Assistant Director, which in army terms is equivalent to a Brigadier, while Al-Mustapha retired as a Major,” he added.
In his 348-page memoir, Amachree claimed that General 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.
He stated that he participated in the investigation that followed the late Head of State’s sudden death and maintained that the account presented in the book was based on his personal experience and knowledge of the incident.
The exchange has sparked fresh public interest in the circumstances surrounding General Abacha’s death, with both men presenting conflicting versions of what transpired.
