No Evidence’ — Ex-Minister Dismisses Claims Sani Abacha Died During S*x

According to Ireporter Online, Etete, who served in the Abacha administration and described the late military ruler as a close friend, was reacting to claims made by former State Security Service officer Dennis Amachree in his memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield.

Amachree reportedly claimed that Abacha suffered a cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter in the early hours of June 8, 1998, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

However, Etete, in a statement titled “Twenty-Eight Years On, Still No Evidence,” questioned the foundation of the account and called for documentary evidence to support the claims.

The former minister asked for details about the woman allegedly involved, as well as medical, security and investigative records that could establish what happened before and after Abacha’s death.

He also questioned whether a post-mortem examination was conducted and whether official records existed concerning the alleged interrogation of the woman.

Etete argued that if the account was accurate, there should be supporting documentation such as security duty logs, travel records and other official records that could corroborate the timeline.

He further questioned why the woman was reportedly allowed to leave Nigeria if security authorities considered her relevant to the circumstances surrounding Abacha’s death.

The former minister stressed that the death of a sitting Head of State should not be reconstructed decades later solely on the basis of an individual’s recollection without supporting evidence.

Etete clarified that he was not speaking as Abacha’s lawyer or spokesperson but as someone who served in his government and knew him personally. He described the account as unverified and unconvincing in the absence of documentary evidence.

His position follows an earlier rejection of Amachree’s version by Abacha’s former Chief Security Officer, Hamza Al-Mustapha, who described the account as false and claimed he had evidence concerning what happened at the Presidential Villa.

Al-Mustapha said he had CCTV footage that could contradict the account but did not publicly release the footage.

In his memoir, Amachree reportedly maintained that a woman who was with Abacha realised that the former military ruler had stopped responding during an intimate encounter. He claimed that the woman subsequently left the Presidential Villa and travelled to Lagos before security authorities located and questioned her.

Amachree said the information available to him led him to conclude that Abacha died from cardiac arrest rather than poisoning.

Abacha seized power in November 1993 and ruled Nigeria until his death on June 8, 1998. The Federal Government at the time announced that the former military ruler had died following a sudden illness.