Australasian Review of African Studies, 2017, 38(1), 29-45 http://afsaap.org.au/ARAS/2017-volume-38/ https://doi.org/10.22160/22035184/ARAS-2017-38-1/29-45 AFSAAP 2017 ARAS Vol.38 No.1 June 2017 29 Ethics and Its Discontents: Evidence from Terrorism Research in North-Eastern Nigeria Iro Aghedo 1 Department of Political Science, University of Benin iro.aghedo@uniben.edu Abstract Terrorism and other forms of political violence have become a huge threat to human security, livelihoods and property in Nigeria in recent years. Though pervasive across the country, the North-East Geopolitical Zone has been the worst hit by insurgency since Nigeria’s re- democratisation in 1999. This article examines the role of the researcher and their participants in areas affected by terrorism, and uses ethical principles as the framework of analysis. Following fieldwork-based experiential dilemmas in the terrorist environment (that is, where terrorists operate), this article argues that even though ethical principles are framed in general terms, their applicability is largely situational and context- dependent. Therefore, this article argues for a pragmatic situational ethical framework that gives ‘voice’ to respondents in North-Eastern Nigeria and similar terrorist environments. Introduction State-society relations in Nigeria have been violently conflictual in recent decades, especially during the country’s tortuous transition from military dictatorship and since its return to civil rule in 1999. Although such violent relations are not totally new—as evidenced by similar cases in the First Republic (1963-1966), Second Republic (1979-1983), and during the aborted Third Republic (1992-1993)—their scale and frequency have increased in the Fourth Republic (1999-present). Across the country’s six 1 The author would like to thank ARAS Editor Tanya Lyons for her very useful comments on an earlier draft of this article. Thanks are also due to Professors S.I. Ebohon and M.I.M. Abutudu of the Department of Political Science, University of Benin for their advisory role in the research. I am also grateful to my contact persons and research participants in the North-East of Nigeria.