Former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), has rejected claims made by former Department of State Services (DSS) operative Dennis Amachree regarding the circumstances surrounding Abacha’s death, describing them as false and urging Nigerians to disregard them.
Al-Mustapha spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the 3rd General Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference held at Arewa House in Kaduna on Saturday.
His remarks followed renewed public debate over Amachree’s memoir, The Shadow Warrior, in which the retired DSS officer recounted his version of the events leading to Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998.
Dismissing the account as fabricated, Al-Mustapha insisted it 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,” he said.
Although he claimed to possess evidence capable of disproving the assertions in the book, Al-Mustapha did not provide further details about the alleged footage or indicate whether he intended to make it public.
He also urged Nigerians not to accept claims made against the late military ruler, arguing that it was unfair to accuse 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 added.
Abacha, who came to power after a military coup on November 17, 1993, died suddenly at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on June 8, 1998. While the Federal Government announced at the time that he died following a sudden illness, the circumstances surrounding his death have remained the subject of controversy for nearly three decades.
Over the years, former military officers, intelligence officials, diplomats and political actors have offered differing 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 by publishing his version of events in The Shadow Warrior, prompting fresh reactions from former officials who served under the regime.
Al-Mustapha, one of Abacha’s closest aides, has consistently challenged narratives he believes misrepresent the late Head of State and his administration.
A controversial figure in his own right, Al-Mustapha was arrested in 1999 following Abacha’s death and later faced 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 his release, 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 lacked factual basis.
