A Nigerian Yoruba chief stands up to the Christian and Muslim missionaries
Christian missionaries, especially of the dominionist/"Transformations" variety, love to claim that the spread of Christianity will dramatically reduce crime. But now a traditional Yoruba leader in Nigeria, Chief Kayode Idowu Esuleke, Baale Esu of Osogbo, is pushing back with similar claims for a return to the traditional Yoruba religion.
According to the Nigerian Daily Sun story Yes, I worship Esu, but I’m not satanic by Tope Adeboboye, Wednesday, June 16, 2010, Baale Esu says:
If you look around you, there are a thousand and one mosques all over the place. Churches are springing up everyday. And yet, what do you have? Assassination, armed robbery, just mention it. Go and look at the church and the mosque. Check out the names. You will never see Esuleke, Ifabunmi, Ifadayisi and so on. The names you hear in the church and mosques are the same people stealing public money. That is why I took a decision that me and my entire family will stay where there is transparency and honesty.”
Chief Esuleke has a suggestion to Nigerian leaders: if corruption and other ills ravaging the country must end, then Nigerians should stop swearing by the Bible or the Quran.
“If you are really serious about fighting corruption and other crimes, you have to swear by Ogun, Esu or Sango. These three gods are not forgiving. If you swear by Osun, Osun is a woman. She is forgiving. But if you swear by Esu now, the day you steal one kobo from the office, Esu will strike almost immediately. If you swear by Sango and you steal, as soon as you see lightning in the sky, you become terrified. If you swear by Ogun, once you see a car coming your way, you become jittery. The day you start swearing like that, corruption will end immediately.
“When people swear, what they should say is, if I steal or I kill, God should punish me. Instead, they will even say, so help me God. You want God to help you commit crime? That is the problem. Let people start swearing by Ogun, Esu and Sango. I tell you, corruption will soon be over in the country.”
He cites a ready example. In the mid 1990s, Chief Esuleke says he was a councillor in Osogbo Local Government. At the swearing-in, he refused to take the Bible or the Quran. “I asked them to bring a blade or something. I delayed the event for about two hours. I told them that nobody would remove one kobo from the office. And that happened. Nobody stole anything from the local government. Just try it. Corruption will be a thing of the past in Nigeria.”
Baale Esu also explains how the god Esu came to be identified with Satan. The Daily Sun quotes him as saying:
"Bishop Ajayi Crowther, when he was trying to translate the English version of the Bible to Yoruba, when he came to Lucifer, he didn’t know what to call him in Yoruba. This was a man who had been terribly abused by the slave masters. He had been moved around several parts of the world in slave ships. He didn’t know what was on ground here. That was why he said Lucifer is Esu."
He then makes the standard Satanist/Luciferian/Gnostic critique of the Garden of Eden story -- with which almost any outside to the Abrahamic faiths would likely agree. Baale Esu says:
The Christians say Esu gave Adam and Eve fruit to eat in the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit, their eyes were opened and they became civilized. They knew that they were naked and they had to go and find some clothes to wear. So even if that story was the truth, what was wrong with it? What offence did Esu commit by helping people to become civilized? Nobody has been able to answer that question.
According to the Nigerian Daily Sun story Yes, I worship Esu, but I’m not satanic by Tope Adeboboye, Wednesday, June 16, 2010, Baale Esu says:
If you look around you, there are a thousand and one mosques all over the place. Churches are springing up everyday. And yet, what do you have? Assassination, armed robbery, just mention it. Go and look at the church and the mosque. Check out the names. You will never see Esuleke, Ifabunmi, Ifadayisi and so on. The names you hear in the church and mosques are the same people stealing public money. That is why I took a decision that me and my entire family will stay where there is transparency and honesty.”
Chief Esuleke has a suggestion to Nigerian leaders: if corruption and other ills ravaging the country must end, then Nigerians should stop swearing by the Bible or the Quran.
“If you are really serious about fighting corruption and other crimes, you have to swear by Ogun, Esu or Sango. These three gods are not forgiving. If you swear by Osun, Osun is a woman. She is forgiving. But if you swear by Esu now, the day you steal one kobo from the office, Esu will strike almost immediately. If you swear by Sango and you steal, as soon as you see lightning in the sky, you become terrified. If you swear by Ogun, once you see a car coming your way, you become jittery. The day you start swearing like that, corruption will end immediately.
“When people swear, what they should say is, if I steal or I kill, God should punish me. Instead, they will even say, so help me God. You want God to help you commit crime? That is the problem. Let people start swearing by Ogun, Esu and Sango. I tell you, corruption will soon be over in the country.”
He cites a ready example. In the mid 1990s, Chief Esuleke says he was a councillor in Osogbo Local Government. At the swearing-in, he refused to take the Bible or the Quran. “I asked them to bring a blade or something. I delayed the event for about two hours. I told them that nobody would remove one kobo from the office. And that happened. Nobody stole anything from the local government. Just try it. Corruption will be a thing of the past in Nigeria.”
Baale Esu also explains how the god Esu came to be identified with Satan. The Daily Sun quotes him as saying:
"Bishop Ajayi Crowther, when he was trying to translate the English version of the Bible to Yoruba, when he came to Lucifer, he didn’t know what to call him in Yoruba. This was a man who had been terribly abused by the slave masters. He had been moved around several parts of the world in slave ships. He didn’t know what was on ground here. That was why he said Lucifer is Esu."
He then makes the standard Satanist/Luciferian/Gnostic critique of the Garden of Eden story -- with which almost any outside to the Abrahamic faiths would likely agree. Baale Esu says:
The Christians say Esu gave Adam and Eve fruit to eat in the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit, their eyes were opened and they became civilized. They knew that they were naked and they had to go and find some clothes to wear. So even if that story was the truth, what was wrong with it? What offence did Esu commit by helping people to become civilized? Nobody has been able to answer that question.