CHAPTER ONE 1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY Peace is an indispensible tool for the stability, progress and achievement of any nation. However in the quest of such peace, there are bound to be disagreement or conflict but such may be settled amicably for the interest of the nation, if such efforts fail it could result into violence or degenerate into terrorism. The difficulty of defining terrorism is in agreeing on a basis for determining when the use of violence (directed at whom, by whom, for what ends) is legitimate; therefore the modern definition of terrorism is controversial. Through several researches carried out it has been discovered that terrorism doesn’t have an exact definition and it is particularly difficult to define due to the fact that meanings change within social and historical context. The change in meaning is as a result of terrorism not being a solid entity like crime and changes within religious groups, political groups, states and world at large. This is why some people do not see a problem with it and some justify acts of terrorism under religious, political beliefs or as an act of liberation. The term terrorism has spawned heated debates as different scholars often argue about the meaning of the term, According to Cooper (2001) who first approached the problem by stating there is “a problem in the problem definition” we can agree that terrorism is a problem, but we cannot agree on what terrorism is. More recently Schmid (1992) points to the central issue, terrorism is not a physical entity that has dimensions to be measured, weighed and analyzed, it is a social construct; that is terrorism is defined by different people within vacillating social and political realities and this is a problem. Despite the controversy revolving around the definition of terrorism the UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1566(2004) defined terrorism as criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act. The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) referred to terrorism, as been the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. The U.S DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE also defined terrorism as the calculated use of violence to include fear; intended coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.

In Nigeria terrorism, which is fast becoming an emerging challenge to national security. According to Azazi (former NSA) as cited in (obene, 2012) “The Nigerian nation is not prepared for the spate of violence we are experiencing”. However research goes ahead to state the fact that there have been several symptoms of terrorism since time memorial, because according to McNamara (1990, p.17) ‘any society that seeks to achieve adequate security against the background of acute food shortage, population explosion, low level of productivity and per capita income, low technological development, inadequate and insufficient public utilities and chronic problems of unemployment; (religious intolerance and criminal politicking) has a false sense of security.

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