Former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), has dismissed recent claims about the circumstances surrounding the former military ruler’s death, describing them as false and misleading.
Al-Mustapha spoke on Saturday, July 25, while addressing journalists on the sidelines of the 3rd General Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference at Arewa House in Kaduna.
His comments were in response to allegations made by retired Department of State Services (DSS) officer Dennis Amachree in his memoir, The Shadow Warrior.
In the book, Amachree reportedly recounted what he described as the events leading to Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998.
Rejecting that version of events, Al-Mustapha insisted the account was fabricated.
He said, “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.”
Although he claimed to possess evidence that contradicts the allegations contained in the memoir, the retired army officer did not disclose details of the footage or indicate whether it would be made public.
He also urged Nigerians not to be swayed by what he described as falsehoods, arguing that it was unfair to make claims against someone who could no longer respond.
“Just ignore his lies. It’s bad to say such things about someone who is dead,” Al-Mustapha said.
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General Sani Abacha came to power through a military coup on November 17, 1993, and remained Nigeria’s Head of State until his sudden death at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on June 8, 1998.
The government announced at the time that he died after a brief illness. However, the circumstances surrounding his death have remained the subject of speculation and competing narratives for nearly three decades.
Former military officers, intelligence officials, diplomats and political actors have since offered differing accounts through interviews, books and public statements.
Amachree, who served as an Assistant Director in the DSS during the Abacha administration, reignited the debate after publishing his memoir, in which he gave his own version of the former Head of State’s final hours.
His claims have drawn reactions from several former officials who served during the military era.
Al-Mustapha, regarded as one of Abacha’s closest associates while in office, has consistently challenged accounts he believes distort the legacy of the late military leader or the events surrounding his administration.
Following Abacha’s death, Al-Mustapha was arrested in 1999 and prosecuted over the attempted murder of publisher Alex Ibru and the killing 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 repeatedly defended the Abacha government, maintaining that many of the allegations made against the late Head of State and officials who served under him were politically motivated and unsupported by credible evidence.