Former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), has claimed he has CCTV footage showing what happened before the former military ruler died.
Al-Mustapha made the claim on Saturday while speaking with journalists at the 3rd General Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference held at Arewa House in Kaduna.
His remarks were in response to claims made by former Department of State Services operative Dennis Amachree in his memoir, The Shadow Warrior. In the book, Amachree reportedly alleged that Abacha died of cardiac arrest during sexual intercourse on June 8, 1998.
Rejecting the account, Al-Mustapha insisted it was false and urged Nigerians not to believe it.
“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.
The retired army major, however, did not provide details of the alleged footage or indicate whether he planned to make it public.
He also appealed to Nigerians to disregard what he described as false claims about the late Head of State.
“Just ignore his lies. It’s bad to say such things about someone who is dead,” Al-Mustapha added.
Abacha, who came to power through a military coup on November 17, 1993, died suddenly at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on June 8, 1998. The Federal Government announced at the time that he died after a brief illness.
However, the circumstances surrounding his death have remained one of Nigeria’s most debated political controversies, with different accounts emerging over the years from former military officers, intelligence operatives, diplomats and political figures.
Amachree’s recently published memoir has revived public debate over Abacha’s final hours, prompting reactions from several former officials who served during the military administration.
Al-Mustapha, one of Abacha’s closest aides, has consistently defended the late military ruler and rejected accounts he believes misrepresent the events surrounding his administration.
He remains a controversial figure in Nigeria’s political history. After Abacha’s death, Al-Mustapha was arrested in 1999 and stood trial over the attempted murder of publisher Alex Ibru and the murder of Kudirat Abiola. He spent more than a decade in detention before the Court of Appeal discharged and acquitted him in 2013.
Since then, he has continued to defend the Abacha administration, maintaining that many allegations against the late Head of State and his government were politically motivated or lacked evidence.
