₦airaland Forum

Let's even assume you want to emulate Christ, even though you are 100% wrong, Where did Jesus collect or Give tithe? Why are you collecting tithe, who then are you emulating? When a passage seems to favour you, you copy the one that doesn't favour you you discard as old laws.

The only outstanding work of this our finance minister is sharing of money to states and payment of salary. No clear financial and economic policy after 2 yrs in office.

When did they write JAMB, in Sambisa forest?

Buhari keeps missing every opportunity to be relevant to the Igbos. The amount he wasted going to campaign in Anambra would have been better appreciated if it was used to treat Ekwueme who is Anambra citizen.

You didn't pay him his entitlement since you entered Aso rock yet have the gut to eulogies him in death, hypocrite.

Oga, you used to enter BRT during campaign to observe our road, why are you now flying over our head? The metamorphosis of a politician.

This is just a show for 2019, this is not needed to know that road is hell on earth. Decongest Lagos by giving priority to other ports on the country.

The way this people played with our intelligence during campaign was legendary. They changes "first lady " to "Wife of the president" and told us the president's Is unconstitutional, we celebrated thinking we were getting something better, here we are still bearing the full cost of the Office of the first lady.

Osinbajo was campaigning and preaching inside BRT, since he entered office the common man has not seen him inside commercial airline let alone BRT, nothing different from the norm.

Reno Omokri wrote:

The recent todo on the issue of tithing which was sparked up by popular On Air Personality, Daddy Freeze, is actually a sad reflection of the state of Christianity in Nigeria specifically and the Black world in general.
Why? Because it proves that it is still true that if you want to hide anything from a Black man all you need to do is to put it in a book!
If all those who have opined about this matter had cared to read about what The Holy Bible says about tithing, I am convinced that it would not have led to as big a controversy as it is today.
So many people have spoken for and against tithing and the thing that bothers me most about their interventions is that it references their pastor, a certain sermon, their opinion or something they have heard.
As a matter of fact, somebody commented that if only I read a certain book by David Yongi Cho, I would know that he (the commenter) was right in his opinion on tithing.
On the issue of tithing as well as on any other ecclesiastical issue, there is only one reference point and that is The Bible.
2nd Timothy 3:16 says:
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for DOCTRINE, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (KJV)
This pretty much covers it. Any controversy about tithing must be settled by The Bible.
The truth is that tithing as presently practiced by many churches, especially the so called Pentecostal or Evangelical churches, is unscriptural.
Take away tithing and the attraction and motivation to be the founder and president of an ‘international ministry’ would disappear.
The Bible actually warned us of such times as this in 1 Timothy 6:5-6.
Constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. (NIV)
The truth is that tithing is an age old AGRICULTURAL practice that predated even Abraham and Moses. Ancient communities, including African communities, set aside a certain potion of their harvest (usually a tenth) and sacrificed it to their gods through his priests.
Now the tithing that Moses taught about was instituted by the living God because the Levitical priests were not given a portion of the land of Canaan as an inheritance and as a result they were to be supported by their fellow brethren.
Numbers 18:20-21 says:
The Lord said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.“ I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting. (NIV)
From the above it is clear that the tithes were specifically gifted by God to the Levites.
You will never find anywhere in Scripture were God, His Son Jesus or the early apostles and disciples asked the New Testament church to pay tithes to pastors.
Pastors do not replace Levites. In the New Testament, pastors worked and earned a living. They were not dependent on the church and the following verse proves it.
I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”-Acts 20:33-35. (NIV).
The above was a farewell message from Paul who had pastored a church in Ephesus. I have been to Ephesus. I have been to the market where Paul had his tent making business.
Neither Jesus, nor Paul nor any of the fathers of the early church collected any tithes from their congregation because they were not Levites who were prevented from doing any type of work other than temple service.
Rather than tithing, the book of Acts teaches us in Acts 2:44-45 that the early Christians lived a communal life and shared EVERYTHING they had.
All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
Too often, pastors try to manipulate their congregation by quoting Malachi 3:8-10
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole NATION—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. (NIV)
I want my readers to note the words ‘NATION’ in the Scripture above. Scripture must be used to unlock Scripture.
The above Scripture was directed to the NATION of Israel. This is clear from Malachi 3:6
“I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed” (NIV)
The reason God said the Israelites were robbing Him is because, as I have proved above with Scripture, on their way to the promised land, God made a deal with them that He would not give the Levites a share of the land of Canaan so that they could focus on Him and the work of the Temple.
In return the rest of the Israelites were to give God the tithes of their agricultural produce from the land He gave them and God in turn gave His tithes to the Levitical priesthood.
It is funny that pastors who insist that Malachi’s verses on tithing must apply to them do not insist that other Old Testament provisions should also apply to them.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 commanded the ancient Israelites to stone their stubborn children to death. Are tithe receiving pastors then prepared to stone their own stubborn children to death because of that Biblical verse?
Quoting an Old Testament verse to justify a New Testament life may appear hypocritical especially as Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith and His early disciples did not preach about tithing. Jesus talked about tithing only in passing while condemning the Pharisees. Pay your tithe if your conscience allows it, but don’t use Malachi to justify it.
In the final analysis, I am not saying pay or don’t pay tithes. I am just presenting the facts as an ordained pastor.
In fact, when the Pharisees insisted that the first Gentile converts to Christianity must be circumcised and keep the Mosaic Law, including tithing, the Council in Jerusalem overruled them and in Acts 15:19-20 gave only four commandments to the new Gentile believers and tithing was NOT one of those commandments.
Jesus mentioned tithe once (in passing when admonishing the Pharisees) but He preached salvation over 100 times.
Let our message in the church focus on Salvation not tithe! Abraham tithed. But He did not tithe to be blessed or that the devourer would be rebuked.
In fact, the tithing that Abraham tithes was completely different from the tithing God commanded the Israelites to do.
Abraham tithed from the goods he reclaimed from the kings he fought against. He did not tithe agricultural goods.
Are those pastors who insist on collecting monetary tithes aware that money existed during the times of the ancient Israelites, yet God never told them to pay monetary tithes. He only requested for AGRICULTURAL tithes so the Levites who had no farms could eat.
As a matter of fact, God told those Israelites who lived far away from the Temple not to even bother paying their agricultural tithes but to convert it to money and spend it on themselves.
We see this in Deuteronomy 14:24-27:
But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose.
Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
Yes, Abraham tithed from his military victory but it does not mean that you must also tithe. Abraham had concubines. By the same logic, you should also have concubines.
The point I am trying to make is that the faith of Abraham culminates in Christ and under Christ, there is no compulsion to tithe. God has given each of us a conscience and His Spirit. If you are led to tithe then tithe. If you are not, then don’t.
But let him that tithes not look down on him that does not tithe and let him who does not tithe not hold those who do in contempt. Your salvation is dependent on your faith in Christ Jesus and not whether or not you tithe. You can make heaven if you believe but don’t tithe but not if you tithe and don’t believe.
As a New Testament believer, what is required of you is a willing offering not a compulsory tithe. This is why 2 Corinthians 9:7 says:
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
We ought to understand that the biblical practice of tithing had two origins. The first was from Abraham, the prophet and patriarch and the other is the Mosaic Law.
In Christ, both the tithing by the prophet and the law have been fulfilled hence in Matthew 5:17 Jesus said:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
So because of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, we do not need the Levitical priesthood as go betweens us and God since Jesus is “The Way, The Truth, and The Life.” (John 14:6)
In the same way, we do not need Abraham’s blessings since God has blessed us “with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3).
As a matter of fact, Colossians 2:10 teaches us that ‘we are complete in Christ’.
So don’t let any pastor psyche you into believing that your worship of God is not complete until you have paid your tithe.
#Reno’s Nuggets
Many people stay friends with you as long as your success doesn’t surpass theirs. Once it does, you become their enemy. And do note that not everyone who loses an argument does so because they cant argue well. Sometimes it’s because they just want to keep a friend. Finally, those who have a Friend in Jesus have the Only Friend in high places they need. You cant get higher than Son of the Most High #RenosNuggets
***
Written by Reno OmokrI

My people perish for lack of knowledge

at Reno wrote:

The recent todo on the issue of tithing which was sparked up by popular On Air Personality, Daddy Freeze, is actually a sad reflection of the state of Christianity in Nigeria specifically and the Black world in general.
Why? Because it proves that it is still true that if you want to hide anything from a Black man all you need to do is to put it in a book!
If all those who have opined about this matter had cared to read about what The Holy Bible says about tithing, I am convinced that it would not have led to as big a controversy as it is today.
So many people have spoken for and against tithing and the thing that bothers me most about their interventions is that it references their pastor, a certain sermon, their opinion or something they have heard.
As a matter of fact, somebody commented that if only I read a certain book by David Yongi Cho, I would know that he (the commenter) was right in his opinion on tithing.
On the issue of tithing as well as on any other ecclesiastical issue, there is only one reference point and that is The Bible.
2nd Timothy 3:16 says:
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for DOCTRINE, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (KJV)
This pretty much covers it. Any controversy about tithing must be settled by The Bible.
The truth is that tithing as presently practiced by many churches, especially the so called Pentecostal or Evangelical churches, is unscriptural.
Take away tithing and the attraction and motivation to be the founder and president of an ‘international ministry’ would disappear.
The Bible actually warned us of such times as this in 1 Timothy 6:5-6.
Constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. (NIV)
The truth is that tithing is an age old AGRICULTURAL practice that predated even Abraham and Moses. Ancient communities, including African communities, set aside a certain potion of their harvest (usually a tenth) and sacrificed it to their gods through his priests.
Now the tithing that Moses taught about was instituted by the living God because the Levitical priests were not given a portion of the land of Canaan as an inheritance and as a result they were to be supported by their fellow brethren.
Numbers 18:20-21 says:
The Lord said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.“ I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting. (NIV)
From the above it is clear that the tithes were specifically gifted by God to the Levites.
You will never find anywhere in Scripture were God, His Son Jesus or the early apostles and disciples asked the New Testament church to pay tithes to pastors.
Pastors do not replace Levites. In the New Testament, pastors worked and earned a living. They were not dependent on the church and the following verse proves it.
I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”-Acts 20:33-35. (NIV).
The above was a farewell message from Paul who had pastored a church in Ephesus. I have been to Ephesus. I have been to the market where Paul had his tent making business.
Neither Jesus, nor Paul nor any of the fathers of the early church collected any tithes from their congregation because they were not Levites who were prevented from doing any type of work other than temple service.
Rather than tithing, the book of Acts teaches us in Acts 2:44-45 that the early Christians lived a communal life and shared EVERYTHING they had.
All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
Too often, pastors try to manipulate their congregation by quoting Malachi 3:8-10
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole NATION—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. (NIV)
I want my readers to note the words ‘NATION’ in the Scripture above. Scripture must be used to unlock Scripture.
The above Scripture was directed to the NATION of Israel. This is clear from Malachi 3:6
“I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed” (NIV)
The reason God said the Israelites were robbing Him is because, as I have proved above with Scripture, on their way to the promised land, God made a deal with them that He would not give the Levites a share of the land of Canaan so that they could focus on Him and the work of the Temple.
In return the rest of the Israelites were to give God the tithes of their agricultural produce from the land He gave them and God in turn gave His tithes to the Levitical priesthood.
It is funny that pastors who insist that Malachi’s verses on tithing must apply to them do not insist that other Old Testament provisions should also apply to them.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 commanded the ancient Israelites to stone their stubborn children to death. Are tithe receiving pastors then prepared to stone their own stubborn children to death because of that Biblical verse?
Quoting an Old Testament verse to justify a New Testament life may appear hypocritical especially as Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith and His early disciples did not preach about tithing. Jesus talked about tithing only in passing while condemning the Pharisees. Pay your tithe if your conscience allows it, but don’t use Malachi to justify it.
In the final analysis, I am not saying pay or don’t pay tithes. I am just presenting the facts as an ordained pastor.
In fact, when the Pharisees insisted that the first Gentile converts to Christianity must be circumcised and keep the Mosaic Law, including tithing, the Council in Jerusalem overruled them and in Acts 15:19-20 gave only four commandments to the new Gentile believers and tithing was NOT one of those commandments.
Jesus mentioned tithe once (in passing when admonishing the Pharisees) but He preached salvation over 100 times.
Let our message in the church focus on Salvation not tithe! Abraham tithed. But He did not tithe to be blessed or that the devourer would be rebuked.
In fact, the tithing that Abraham tithes was completely different from the tithing God commanded the Israelites to do.
Abraham tithed from the goods he reclaimed from the kings he fought against. He did not tithe agricultural goods.
Are those pastors who insist on collecting monetary tithes aware that money existed during the times of the ancient Israelites, yet God never told them to pay monetary tithes. He only requested for AGRICULTURAL tithes so the Levites who had no farms could eat.
As a matter of fact, God told those Israelites who lived far away from the Temple not to even bother paying their agricultural tithes but to convert it to money and spend it on themselves.
We see this in Deuteronomy 14:24-27:
But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose.
Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
Yes, Abraham tithed from his military victory but it does not mean that you must also tithe. Abraham had concubines. By the same logic, you should also have concubines.
The point I am trying to make is that the faith of Abraham culminates in Christ and under Christ, there is no compulsion to tithe. God has given each of us a conscience and His Spirit. If you are led to tithe then tithe. If you are not, then don’t.
But let him that tithes not look down on him that does not tithe and let him who does not tithe not hold those who do in contempt. Your salvation is dependent on your faith in Christ Jesus and not whether or not you tithe. You can make heaven if you believe but don’t tithe but not if you tithe and don’t believe.
As a New Testament believer, what is required of you is a willing offering not a compulsory tithe. This is why 2 Corinthians 9:7 says:
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
We ought to understand that the biblical practice of tithing had two origins. The first was from Abraham, the prophet and patriarch and the other is the Mosaic Law.
In Christ, both the tithing by the prophet and the law have been fulfilled hence in Matthew 5:17 Jesus said:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
So because of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, we do not need the Levitical priesthood as go betweens us and God since Jesus is “The Way, The Truth, and The Life.” (John 14:6)
In the same way, we do not need Abraham’s blessings since God has blessed us “with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3).
As a matter of fact, Colossians 2:10 teaches us that ‘we are complete in Christ’.
So don’t let any pastor psyche you into believing that your worship of God is not complete until you have paid your tithe.
#Reno’s Nuggets
Many people stay friends with you as long as your success doesn’t surpass theirs. Once it does, you become their enemy. And do note that not everyone who loses an argument does so because they cant argue well. Sometimes it’s because they just want to keep a friend. Finally, those who have a Friend in Jesus have the Only Friend in high places they need. You cant get higher than Son of the Most High #RenosNuggets
***
Written by Reno Omokri

So if I get the old Biafra currency still in my village I become a terrorist? This is same way the govt wiped out most of Biafra war ingenuity that Nigeria could have built upon and patented, till date we still import things that were manufactured in Biafra 50years ago. Are we saying this currency is not in our museum?

We don't have refinery but our govt of destruction destroys the local ones made in the Niger Delta rather than developing them for local use.

The OP is seriously fantasizing about busting a non existent myth . If I were him Ill be more concerned about how a people bounced back with just 20pounds in 50 years to overtake the who never went to war. You never provided any newspaper evidence to support your own claim but demands for an evidence from anyone that wants to counter your fantasy.

It's already established that there was a sharing of 20pounds, you are now running around on whether it was an exchange for cash of For bank Account.

Dear OP can you provide a newspaper report that shows that all those who had a bank Account in Nigeria as stated by Awolowo got their exact money back?

petra1:
Jesus clearly endorsed tithing here

Matthew 23:23 (TLB)
"Yes, woe upon you, Pharisees, and you other religious leaders--hypocrites! For you tithe down to the last mint leaf in your garden, but ignore the important things--justice and mercy and faith. Yes, you should tithe, but you shouldn't leave the more important things undone.

Tithes and offetings are principled in the kingdom of God. It has always been there before the law came . Right from the days of Abraham it has come to stay . Just like other principles like worship , prayer , alms , fasting etc . Testaments don’t change principles

Jesus was talking to the Pharisees who were Israelites by birth and still practices Judaism at the time. They still had the levites and priests so had to pay them tithe.

Tithe was a compensatory system for a tribe out of the 12 tribes who wes not allowed to own a Land nor Farm. The Levites were born priest and since they have to survive without working, they were entitled to tithe.

When Christianity took off after the Pentecost, other nations joined and since there was no need for Levites anymore in the new testament church, there was no need for tithe. Little wonder none of the disciples gave nor received tithe. Emphasis was rather placed on giving, sharing and having all things in common. Ananias and Sapphira died for not bringing 100% of their earning not tithe(Acts 5:1). There is no room for tithe in a new testament church. Paul confronted Peter and asked the leadership of the church not to extend laws strictly for the Jews to other Christians from other nations(Gal2:11-13). Peter also instructed the church in Act 15 not to tempt God by mandating Gentile Christians to obey Jewish laws and tradition.

As much as the pastors and the church must be taken care off, it shouldn't be by tithing. Offering and sacrificial giving is required of us not tithe. Some Pastors should stop placing a burden on the members that God has not placed and stop teaching for laws the commandment of men,

Cheating is a terrible thing to experience in marriage but unforgiveness is worse. You don't have to kill your husband because he cheated, thank God it wasn't HIV you got.

Get over your anger and pride, it could have been you that cheated and will desire to be forgiven. I don't know your religion but David cheated and was forgiven by both his wives and God.

If you choose to maintain the status quo, then give the man a room to live his life , you don't have to torment him to death also bear in mind you have torn your family including the future of your kids apart.

Obi1kenobi:
£20 then is not 600k today. It's barely even 1/10th of that today. Where do you guys dig out these lies from?

That's wrong, just 3 years ago you could have said it was worth 200k. In 1970, 20 pounds could buy only 80 gallons of fuel in UK. Nigeria pound was almost equal to UK pound so we can say 20 pounds in 1970 was worth only 43500 today.

diadem10:
No where was it stated! The article you quoted only talked about the exchange of biafra pounds for 20 pounds! Stop this manipulation already.

The article talks about only the exchange but I asked you to juxtapose it with Awolowo's interview and see my point 2 valid. Google the interview, it was even posted earlier.

As already suggested let her avoid much liquid From 8pm e.g water, pap, tea etc, She should urinate before sleeping and if she sleeps earlier than 9pm, help her wake by midnight to pee.

aribisala0:
So you accept that every Igbo man was given 20 pounds?
What you have not accepted is they were given twenty pounds for Biafran pounds that they had bought with Nigerian pounds
That Ojukwu used their money to prosecute the war leaving them with toilet roll called Biafran pounds and that Nigeria generously bailed them oul

That 20 pounds today would be 200000 Naira
Money in bank accounts was not affected by the currency switch just that which Ojukwu looted from banks in the East

I hope the Igbos would be willing to contribute in that same spirit to the people of the NE zone

Go back to the articles above and also read Awolowo's interview and you'll understand that there was a double approach.

1. Those with evidence of bank Account got a maximum of 20pound.
2. Those with Biafra pounds also got a maximum of 20pounds.

This is enough to show u that virtually every Igbo man got same amount.

Below is a report by NYtimes in 1987 about the civil war, every Igbo man literary started life afresh with 20 pounds. The OP should give honours to the Igbos for coming this far

Few Traces of the Civil War Linger in Biafra
By JAMES BROOKE, Special to the New York Times
Published: July 14, 1987
ENUGU, Nigeria— The Biafra babies are adults now.

It has been 20 years since Nigerian soldiers moved to retake the nation's oil-producing east, which had seceded five weeks earlier as the independent Republic of Biafra.

After 20 months of fighting, the secessionists threw down their arms and melted into the bush. By the end, Nigeria's civil war - initially an obscure tribal conflict - had moved to the stage of world public opinion.

In one of the first televised wars, millions were moved by images of the Biafra babies, fragile skeletons with distended bellies, who succumbed by the thousands to a man-made famine. Experts now say the children who survived appear to have grown to healthy adulthood, and Nigeria's east bears few traces of the civil war that killed an estimated one million people.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, the market in Owerri was filled with women carrying robust babies strapped to their backs. A far cry from the city's final, famine-racked days, Owerri's market stalls were loaded with three-foot-high pyramids of freshly baked bread.

At Umuahia, at the National War Museum, tourists strolled through a photo exhibition on Biafra. Twenty years ago, the galleries served as the underground studios of the Voice of Biafra, which were used by the rebel leadership to exhort Ibo tribesmen to resist.

Parked outside the museum are several Biafran ''Red Devils'' - armored cars improvised by the rebels from bulldozers and sheets of welded steel. Green tendrils of undergrowth curled through the treads, which long ago had frozen with rust. A Graveyard for Aviators

In Uli, buses and brightly painted wagons sped over a section of Route A-6, where, at the height of the war, as many as 40 cargo planes landed each night, bringing arms and food to the encircled Biafrans.

Aside from fragments of a Super Constellation aircraft rusting in a cornfield, the only hint of the road's earlier role was a rural establishment named ''Airport Hotel.''

Near the hotel, the sound of voices singing hymns floated through the open windows of St. Teresa's Church. But shoulder-high brush covered the church's once neatly tended graveyards, which hold the remains of two dozen Biafran and foreign aviators killed during the airlift. Biafra Became a Taboo Word

Shortly after the war ended in January 1970, the graveyard was bulldozed by the Nigerian military seeking to erase physical reminders of the rebellion. Today, the region is intensely farmed. But local peasants cultivate only up to the invisible borders of the old burying grounds.

In the post-war era, Biafra became a taboo word. The Bight of Biafra, a stretch of Nigeria's Atlantic coast, was renamed the Bight of Bonny. Biafra Light, the oil pumped from this area, is now called Bonny Light.

In 1967, the Ibos broke away from Nigeria largely because they feared massacres at the hands of their ethnic rivals - the Hausa in the North and Yoruba in the South. Though all three groups are Nigerian, they are about as similar to one another as the French are to the Germans or the Italians. 'No Victor and No Vanquished'

In 1966, anti-Ibo rioting, largely by Hausas, killed about 30,000 Ibos and created about a million Ibo refugees. During the ensuing civil war, it was fear of renewed killing that kept many Ibos fighting.

But after Biafra's collapse, the massacres did not take place. Yakubu Gowon, then Nigeria's President, declared a policy of ''no victor and no vanquished.''

Oil also served as an ointment for national wounds. In the 1970's, Nigeria rode an oil boom and national income increased fivefold. A Reception of Embraces

''I must say Nigeria has done a good job,'' said Benjamin Odogwu, an Ibo who served as Biafra's Director of Military Intelligence. ''The war was fought in all viciousness. We were surprised by the reception, the embraces.''

In 1982, after 13 years in exile in the Ivory Coast, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Biafra's bearded leader, returned to Nigeria. He was welcomed at the airport here by an enthusiastic crowd of a quarter million people.

After an unsuccessful fling in politics, Mr. Ojukwu, 54 years old, has settled into the quiet life of a successful Lagos businessman. A Legacy of Discrimination

''Ojukwu laughs last,'' read a recent report chronicling a current, more prosaic, preoccupation of the one-time rebel. On July 6, a Lagos court returned to Mr. Ojukwu the family mansion that the state had seized in the war.

While Mr. Ojukwu, the Oxford-educated son of a millionaire, has landed on his feet in Lagos, many Ibos complain that they labor under a legacy of discrimination stemming from the civil war.

In this nation ruled by the military, it was only this year that an Ibo reached the rank of a general. Although Ibos account for about a quarter of Nigeria's 100 million people, there is only one Ibo on Nigeria's supreme political organ, the 19-man Armed Forces Ruling Council. Currency Became Valueless

During the war, many Ibos lost their fortunes when the Federal Government switched the currency in circulation, declaring the old coins and bills valueless. When peace came, Ibos were allowed to exchange a maximum of 20 Biafran pounds for 20 Nigerian pounds.

Two years later, the Government embarked on a campaign that forced many foreign companies here to take on majority Nigerian ownership. Since the Ibos were destitute, control of the companies largely went to Hausa and Yorubas.

''The east is not faring well after 20 years,'' said Arthur A. Nwankwo, a book publisher from Enugu, ticking off on his fingers a list of development projects that have gone to other regions of Nigeria. A Historical Curiosity

Mr. Nwankwo maintains a ''Biafran section'' in his publishing house, which he said is putting into print an increasing number of civil war novels and memoirs.

About half of all Nigerians were born since the war broke out. For many, Biafra is nearly a historical curiosity.

''Some people have forgotten their losses, some people haven't,'' said Mokwugo Okoye, who was once a member of Biafra's Consultative Assembly. ''There are now more pressing issues - like the economy - not what happened 20 years ago.''

One enduring mystery of the period is the impact that the severe malnutrition had on a generation of Biafran children. Cities Double in Size

In ''The Brutality of Nations,'' a book on Biafra published in New York this year, Dan Jacobs, the author, estimates that at the war's end, 31 percent of Biafran children under the age of 5 - or 480,000 children - suffered from severe malnutrition.

''The people I have seen from that particular period are in secondary school and university and have not suffered any permanent injury,'' said H. I. Uzoewulu, medical director of St. Martin's Hospital here. Disabled War Veterans

But reminders of the war occasionally intrude through eastern Nigeria's surface normality.

On the westbound shoulder of Route A-232, a modern four-lane expressway that links Enugu and Onitsha, a group of eight men in wheelchairs gather every day in the shade of a palm frond.

Passing the day chatting or telling war stories, these disabled Biafran war veterans wait for passing drivers to slow their cars and to throw coins or bills out their windows.

''The Government regards us as outcasts,'' said Chuks Usim, a former Biafran corporal, as traffic sped by. Mr. Usim said his group is trying to raise money for new wheelchair tires.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, cars filled with families stopped frequently. But some days go by, Mr. Usim said, when no one stops.

blaqoracle:
we tried Igbo before, we ended in bloody civil war.

Can you tell the us the year you tried Igbo and ended in civil war or have u resumed a new line of revising history?

The north and south keep going in opposite directions. I can't imagine a Gov in the south prioritising a religious house in his ddevelopment goals. The South build schools, the north build Mosques, why wouldn't they be less educated and developed.

The north and south keeps going in opposite directions. I can't imagine a Gov in the south prioritising a religiousin his ddevelopment goals.

Bullhari007:
I disagreed with him in that umueri Airport... he build that airport for his own selfish interest, this guy is full of bias and self centered... what happened to Oba cargo airport no wonder NNEWI ppl chase him away , Oba cargo airport would have be a plus to Ndi Anambra it will boasts economy activities in Anambra due to it closeness to NNEWI and Onitcha , but who will ever think of going to umueri to board a flight while asaba airport is there he build the airport for his kinsmen in kogi, this man is not an Anambra but a kogi man

You would have been considered intelligent if you had not added that senseless last sentence. Some of you just go off tangent without weighing the meaning of what you are saying.

Obiano has done well by Nigerian standard. Obi also performed no doubt but I remember when the face of Awka was a major topic for discussion on Nairaland few years back, it was then compared to Lokoja as capitals that defy positive changes but Awka has woken from sleep.

I don't know why PDP is making the election a competition between Obi and Obiano thereby leaving Obaze, their candidate dumb in public. So far I haven't heard the Guy speak, hope it wouldn't be like Buhari that was kept away from public debate by APC only to later deny every promise made on his behalf.

When politicians campaign for the poor they customize 2 cups of rice, when with the rich they customize champagne. The difference is clear.

Buhari is a concluded case, it's a miracle he even considered 19% of the southerners worthy of his "honest" govt. This is what happens when fellow southerners cut their nose to spite their face. When South East complained at the beginning, we were told to be quiet that more appointments are coming. Now the entire south is left with crumbs.

No smoke without fire, I will rather believe Lai Mohammed than Naija police. our govt has become a compendium of controversy. We have all forgotten about NNPC scandal.

And he waited For Ojukwu to die before saying this? You returned from Aburi and became sick to the extent you couldn't make a statement to a nation in tumult, isn't that the biggest lie and shows your level of irresponsibility?

Nigeria could end up having the oldest diplomat in the world, that's an achievement for this govt. In the absence of something tangible, a Guinness book of record can suffice.

I wonder what has happened to Buhari's body language, I wish our Minister of lies and propaganda can explain.

Osun state has started another wasteful project,where is Opon Imo and the biggest talking drum?. Its monthly allocation is already in negative yet the Gov has refused to learn his lesson. How many people flies in the state to warrant an airport.

Aregbesola, Kogi gov and Rochas are the biggest wasters in this administration.

The govt keeps appearing confused and impotent with respect to IPOB. Did FG beg them to recognize Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen as terrorists? Common sense would have told them that the world laughs at them because their tactics are crude and lame.

No action of Buhari surprises me cos I saw it coming during the election am only amazed at the blind support a supposed learned people give him.