Abacha died of cardiac arrest during intercourse, not poisoned apples, says ex-DSS operative

A former senior intelligence officer has offered a new account of the death of Nigeria's former military ruler, Gen. Sani Abacha, asserting that he died from cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter, not from poisoned apples as widely speculated.

Dennis Amachree, who served as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos Department of State Services (DSS) Command when Abacha died in June 1998, detailed the events in his new memoir, "DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield." He claims the fatal episode occurred around 4:05 a.m. at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

According to Amachree's account, Abacha was with a pharmacist, who was in Abuja for a conference and had accompanied her elder sister, Abacha's girlfriend, to the guest house. After the girlfriend left, Abacha became intimate with the younger sister. Amachree alleges that the woman realized Abacha had stopped responding during their encounter. In a state of panic, she left the villa, telling a guard that "Oga" had requested a car to take her back to her hotel. She reportedly left Abuja on an early morning flight to Lagos before security agencies could question her.

Amachree's narrative directly challenges persistent conspiracy theories surrounding Abacha's death. He recounts that when Abacha's Chief Security Officer was informed around 5 a.m., efforts to locate the woman were unsuccessful as she had already departed. Amachree himself was later directed by DSS headquarters to find and interrogate her in Lagos. The woman, he claims, maintained her innocence, stating, "I did not kill him, he died."

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I did not kill him, he died.