Inside General Sani Abacha’s Last Moments: Major Al-Mustapha Speaks

General Sani Abacha died aged 54 on the night of June 8, 1998, at Aso Rock. His former Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), says the widely circulated story of a poisoned apple is false. He traces Abacha’s sudden collapse to a handshake with a security aide to President Yasser Arafat at Abuja airport on June 7. That evening, Abacha received visitors and seemed well. But in the early hours of June 8, his security team found him gasping. Major Al-Mustapha fetched the personal physician, who administered two injections. Abacha remained unresponsive and was declared dead. To prevent chaos, Major Al-Mustapha used secure channels to inform key military figures. He resisted an attempt by a service chief to seize power and, after consulting retired generals, agreed to support General Jeremiah Useni as the next head of state.

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