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 produce CCTV footage of the military ruler’s final hours if he disputes the account contained in his memoir.
Amachree made the challenge while reacting to Al-Mustapha’s dismissal of claims in his newly released book, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, in which he alleged that Abacha died after suffering a coitus-induced cardiac arrest in the early hours of June 8, 1998.
Al-Mustapha had described Amachree’s account as false and urged Nigerians not to believe it.
Speaking in a telephone interview with The Nation, the retired intelligence officer said Al-Mustapha should present evidence rather than merely rejecting his account.
“If he says what I wrote is false, let him produce the CCTV footage of what happened,” Amachree said.
He maintained that Al-Mustapha’s response should be based on verifiable facts instead of personal attacks.
According to Amachree, simply describing his account as false does not invalidate the findings contained in his memoir.
Amachree further defended his credentials, noting that he retired from the DSS as an Assistant Director, a rank he said is equivalent to a 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 added.
In the 348-page 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 late military ruler’s sudden death and maintained that the account in his book was based on his experience and knowledge of the incident.
