Kanu Godwin Agabi is a Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

n lawyer and politician who was a National Senator, and was twice Attorney General and Minister of Justice

Nigerian Federal Ministry of Justice

The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Justice is the legal arm of the Federal Government of Nigeria, primarily concerned with bringing cases before the judiciary that are initiated or assumed by the government. It is headed by the Attorney General, who is also Minister of Justice...

 of the federation during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo.

Kanu was appointed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria

Senior Advocate of Nigeria

Senior Advocate of Nigeria is a title that may be conferred on legal practitioners in Nigeria of not less than ten years' standing and who have distinguished themselves in the legal profession...

 on 15 September 1997.
In the April 1999 elections, Kanu ran for governor of Cross River State

Cross River State

Cross River State is a coastal state in southeastern Nigeria, bordering Cameroon to the east. Its capital is at Calabar, and it is named for the Cross River , which passes through the state...

, but was defeated by Donald Duke

Donald Duke

Donald Duke was the Governor of Cross River State, Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He received LLB degree in 1982 from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria - Nigeria, the B.L in 1983 from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos and the L.L.M...

. He was said to be a candidate for the same position in the 2003 elections.

Minister of Justice

In March 2002, Kanu said in a letter to Nigerian state governors that the application of strict Islamic or Sharia law was unconstitutional, since some judgments passed under Sharia discriminated against Muslims.
That month, Amina Lawal

Amina Lawal

Amina Lawal Kurami is a Nigerian woman. On March 22, 2002, an Islamic Sharia court sentenced her to death by stoning for adultery and for conceiving a child out of wedlock...

, a young Nigerian woman accused of giving birth to a child out of wedlock was sentenced to death by stoning, a punishment that was confirmed in August 2002 by a Shari'ah court of appeals in Funtua, Katsina State

Katsina State

Katsina State is a state in northern Nigeria. Its capital is Katsina, and its governor is Ibrahim Shema, a member of the People's Democratic Party...

. Kanu came under pressure from Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 to abolish the death penalty in Nigeria.

In May 2003, the Attorney General urged a Federal High Court in Abuja to order the arrest of the National Assembly leadership, and to imprison them for contempt of the court. He appealed to the court to set aside the anti-graft bill which the National Assembly had passed into law despite a presidential veto.

Later career

In June 2007 Kanu represented the Independent National Electoral Commission

Independent National Electoral Commission

The Independent National Electoral Commission , set up in 1998, is the electoral body which was set up to oversee elections in Nigeria.The INEC has encountered several controversies in the run-up to the April 2007 general elections, including criticism about its preparedness from Sada Abubakar,...

 (INEC) in a suit launched by General Muhammadu Buhari

Muhammadu Buhari

Muhammadu Buhari was a military ruler of Nigeria and an unsuccessful candidate for president in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential elections...

, the Presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), seeking to jail the INEC Chairman Professor Maurice Iwu

Maurice Iwu

Maurice Mmaduakolam Iwu is a Nigerian Professor of Pharmacognosy who was appointed Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission in June 2005, and was removed from office in April 2010.-Background:...

 for refusing to allow Buhari's lawyers access to electoral materials.

In May 2009 Kanu was counsel for the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Nicholas Ugbane

Nicholas Ugbane

Nicholas Ugbane is a formerNigerian senator who became a member of the Nigerian Senate in 2003.In May 2009 he was held in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on account of alleged complicity in defrauding the Nigerian government of funds earmarked for rural...

, who had been charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud and money laundering...

(EFCC) of complicity in defrauding the government of about N5.2 billion earmarked for rural electrification.