‘I have the CCTV footage’: Ex-CSO to Abacha Al-Mustapha dismisses claim that former ruler died ‘on top of girlfriend’s sister’

Former Chief Security Officer to late Head of State Sani Abacha, Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), has claimed to possess CCTV footage of the events surrounding Abacha’s June 1998 death, flatly dismissing as “lies” the account published in a memoir by former DSS operative Dennis Amachree.

Nearly three decades after Sani Abacha’s death, his former security chief says he holds footage that tells a very different story — and he wants the world to know it.

Speaking with journalists on Saturday at the 3rd General Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference at Arewa House in Kaduna, Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.) directly challenged the account of Abacha’s final moments published in ex-DSS operative Dennis Amachree’s memoir, “DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield.”

Amachree’s book claims the late military dictator died from cardiac arrest during sexual intercourse at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on June 8, 1998 — a claim that has already drawn pushback from former Kaduna Central Senator Shehu Sani.

As reported by Daily Post, Al-Mustapha went further than Sani, alleging a deliberate campaign of disinformation behind Amachree’s account. “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 stated.

Al-Mustapha did not disclose the contents of the footage or indicate whether he intended to make it public. He offered no alternative account of the circumstances surrounding Abacha’s death.

The claim that CCTV footage from 1998 exists and has remained in private custody for nearly 28 years is likely to intensify public interest in one of Nigeria’s most enduring political mysteries.