The
African union in its convention on the prevention and combating Terrorism,
Article 1 (3) defines terrorism as:
Any act which is the violation of the criminal laws of
a state party and which may endanger the life, physical integrity or freedom
of, or cause serious injury or death to any person, any number or group of
person or cause damage to public or private property, natural Resources,
environmental or cultural heritage and is calculated or
intended to:
(i) Intimidate,
put in fear, coerces or induce nay government, body, institution the general
public or any segment therefore, to do or abstain from doing an act, or to
adopt or abandon a particular stand-point or to act according to certain
principles;
Or
(ii) Disrupt
any public or to create a public emergency or create general insurrection in a
state”
For
Nigeria, the prevention of Terrorism Act 2011 in section 1(2) defines acts of
terrorism” as an act which his deliberately done with malice of aforethought
and which may
(a) Seriously
harm or damage a country or an international organization”,
(b) Is
intended or can reasonably be regarded as having being intended to
(i) Unduly
compel a government or international organization to perform or abstain from
performing any act;
(ii) Seriously
intimidate a population
(iii) Seriously
destabilize or destroy the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or
social structure of a country or an international organization; or
(iv) Otherwise
influence such government or international organization by intimidation or
coercion…”