Nearly three decades after the death of former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, a retired senior official of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has offered a fresh account of the circumstances surrounding the late leader's final moments, claiming he died from a cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter at the Presidential Villa.

Amachree made the disclosure in his newly released memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, in which he dismissed the long-standing conspiracy theories that have trailed Abacha's sudden death since June 1998.

The former Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the DSS Lagos Command said Abacha suffered a fatal cardiac arrest at about 4:05 a.m. inside the Aso Rock Guest House.

According to Amachree, the late military ruler had received his girlfriend at the Presidential Villa after she arrived in Abuja with her younger sister, a pharmacist attending a professional conference. He alleged that while the girlfriend later returned to her hotel, the younger sister remained behind with the Head of State.

Amachree claimed that during an intimate encounter, the woman noticed that Abacha had suddenly become unresponsive and discovered he had no pulse.

The retired intelligence officer said the woman, frightened by the incident, requested transportation back to her hotel and left the Presidential Villa before security personnel became aware of what had happened. He added that she boarded an early morning flight to Lagos before she could be questioned.

According to Amachree, once Abacha's Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, was informed of the incident, the DSS headquarters directed that the woman be traced, arrested and interrogated in Lagos.

Recounting the interrogation, Amachree said the woman repeatedly denied any involvement in the former military ruler's death.

"I did not kill him; he died on top of me," he quoted her as telling investigators.

Amachree said investigators concluded that Abacha died from a coitus-induced cardiac arrest, a finding he believes dispels the numerous assassination and poisoning theories that have persisted for nearly three decades.

General Sani Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death on June 8, 1998.