Hamza Al-Mustapha, retired Major and former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State General Sani Abacha, has rejected claims made in a new memoir by a retired Department of State Services (DSS) officer, insisting that video evidence in his possession tells a different story.
Al-Mustapha made the disclosure on Saturday while speaking with journalists at the 3rd General Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference, held at Arewa House in Kaduna.
His comments come in response to the recently published memoir, “The Shadow Warrior,” written by retired DSS Assistant Director Dennis Amachree, who served during the Abacha administration. The book reportedly offers Amachree’s personal account of the events surrounding Abacha’s sudden death on June 8, 1998.
But Al-Mustapha dismissed the narrative outright, alleging that Amachree was encouraged by unnamed individuals to publish what he described as a fabricated version of history.
“The boy was asked by others to write those lies,” Al-Mustapha said. “I have all the CCTV footage of what happened in my custody, so what he said is not true.”
He maintained that the footage could contradict Amachree’s allegations, though he did not provide specific details about what the video allegedly captures or indicate whether he intends to release it to the public.
“Just ignore his lies,” Al-Mustapha urged Nigerians. “It’s bad to say such things about someone who is dead.”
Abacha seized power in a military coup on November 17, 1993, and ruled Nigeria until his death at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. The Federal Government announced at the time that the military ruler died after a sudden illness, but the circumstances have remained one of the most controversial episodes in Nigeria’s political history, with conflicting accounts emerging over the years from military officers, intelligence operatives, diplomats, and political actors.
Al-Mustapha, who was among Abacha’s closest aides, has repeatedly rejected allegations he believes misrepresent the late ruler and officials who served under his administration.
Following Abacha’s death, Al-Mustapha was arrested in 1999 and later prosecuted over the attempted murder of publisher Alex Ibru and the killing of Kudirat Abiola, wife of Chief Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. He spent more than a decade in detention before the Court of Appeal discharged and acquitted him in 2013.
Since regaining his freedom, Al-Mustapha has continued to defend the Abacha administration, maintaining that several allegations against the late Head of State and members of his government were politically motivated or unsupported by evidence.
Discussion about this post