Forgiveness and Justice

First of all, let me warn you, this is a long one!!

Several things prompted this writeup. First of all, I must confess that I am a Nigerian (well African in general) movie junkie. I just love those movies, I no go lie. One of my favorites is the "quadlogy" Total War and Final War (I know there is no such word, but a three part movie is a trilogy abi? What is 4 part movie?). I am usually horrified by the length of some of our movies, but this one made up for all the time wasting with a very creative and thought inducing story. I may start doing reviews some day, but for today, take my word for it - it is a good movie. So what was it about? Well Uche Jombo plays a lawyer who is engaged to a pastor(played by Francis Duru) who came to Nigeria as a refugee from Liberia. Uche's character's parents had been missionaries living in in Liberia during the civil war with her older sister, and they were killed in the violence. Her older sister(played by Omotola) somehow survived, but was so traumatized by her experience that she left for the United states after the war was over and had not been back since. However, her sister was getting married, so she finally comes back to Africa. She is introduced to her sister's fiance (the pastor) and she passes out in shock and horror. He turns out to be the ex-warlord who raped her and killed both her parents during the Liberian civil war. Na so kasala come burst o!! The question was - to forgive or not to forgive? In the movie though, forgiving him was equated with not handing him over to the authorities. Good movie (as Nigerian movies go). I recommend it.

Scene from the movie:


You know, I have a real bias against Nigerian movies and what I like to call “cheap forgiveness”, particularly in the area of sexual crimes against women – infidelity and rape to be totally specific. You see all these movies where all these men do all these horrible things, and then you see society exerting pressure on poor abused women to “forgive”. Usually, what this means is that there must be no consequences. Once he sees the light, you are duty bound to immediately kiss his almighty cheating behind. It is often very nauseating to watch. And yes, 99percent of the time, those weird movies were written by men!!

But this one was different. This one was deeper than the usual bubblegum “you are a women so you are a beast of nature” crap. What would you do if you came face to face with a war criminal who raped you, killed your parents and is about to marry your sister?

I was so touched by the movie that I started to do a little research on how other African countries that have faced civil wars have treated their war criminals. In the course of my research, I came across a gem of a documentary, based on the civil war in Rwanda. Entitled "As we forgive", it movingly tells the story of post-war Rwanda and their struggle to come to terms with the aftermath of a genocide that killed millions. While the new administration had imprisoned as many killers as they could, they did not have enough room. So they decided to release as many of the killers who had confessed to their participation in the mass killings and shown some remorse. The survivors, many of whom had lost entire families to these killers now had to live in the same neighborhoods and attend the same churches as the individuals that tore their lives apart. The state also put in place a reconciliation process (similar to the one in South Africa) that involved NGOs and churches. It was very intense, very sad, very thought provoking. I bought the documentary and showed it to my bible study group. We all wondered if we were capable of that kind of forgiveness. The filmmaker's website is found here

And then, there is the case of Ms Fiberesima that I posted last week here. After the first ruling, some of her supporters told to the protesters to be quiet - afterall, the family in question had forgiven her. That was not true of course, but that is beside the point.

The point, my major question is this : What does forgiveness mean? Does forgiveness preclude justice? Is it okay for me to say - I forgive you, but I think you should be in jail? If I demand justice for a wrong done to me, am I unforgiving? Does an apology mean that the person no longer has to face the legal consequences of their action? When I look at the South African model, and the Rwandan model, I marvel, but I also wonder. Would it be unforgiving for a person whose family was killed to insist on the murderer doing time in jail? To say I forgive you, but I need you to do time? Is that unforgiveness? Can a woman who has been systematically betrayed by a straying husband, can she say “ I forgive you, but I need to leave you?”, or does forgiveness always demand that she continue to live with him? Can a sexually abused child say “I forgive you, but I don’t want you around me?” to his/her abuser?


The type of forgiveness peddled in many African movies is forgiveness with no consequence – with the victim bearing the double burden of the crime, as well as the burden of no justice, being pressured by society to “forgive”. It makes me wonder, and it makes me angry, because of the message it sends. And it is reflected in our larger society. In Nigeria in particular, there is a so called “War against corruption” going on. They are arresting corrupt public officers, and trying to prosecute them for corruption. Here once again, we see our penchant for cheap forgiveness. They say they are sorry, they are made to return a minute portion of their loot, and life goes on. "Forgive us" they say. "We are depriving you of your future, but forgive us."

So what do you think? What is forgiveness? Would you stand by without prosecuting a man who raped you, killed your parents and sought to marry your sister - even if he is totally changed? Would you totally let it go? Do you think the Rwandan model of releasing 50,000 murderers back into their old neighborhoods is rational? Would you worship with the same people who took your family?

Let me know what you think.