USA Africa Dialogue Series - Esu is your God?

Professor Falola just said something that I have been puzzling over. He said that he has adopted Esu as his God. That sounds odd because a God is not for adoption like children. But even before he said this, I have been questioning the assumption by colonial anthropologists that Africans are polytheistic and Europeans are monotheistic. 

Soyinka vigorously rejected the idea that he paints a picture of Yoruba Gods that are identical with Greek Gods. Soyinka said that in African belief systems, reprobate Gods are held accountable if they misbehave like the Greek Gods that go about raping the wives of one another and still being followed by their minions who are punished with plagues while they remain untouchable with impunity. Yet even Baba Soyinka still talks about Yoruba pantheistic pantheons.

The Nobel Prize committee probably did not get the memo and so repeated the mantra that Soyinka has his roots in Yoruba culture which has links with the Mediterranean, as if he is rooted in one spot like a tree (the Yoruba believe that they descended from ancient Egyptians but I think that it is the other way round). Soyinka denied this by stating in his Nobel lecture that his roots go all the way to Kenya in opposition to the torture of Mau Mau suspects, to South Africa in opposition to apartheid, and so on.

My question is this: Is an Orisa also an Oluwa in Yoruba belief system? Among the Igbo brothers and sisters (or ancestors, Obatala being a son of Igbo) of the Yoruba, they are called Arusi, spirit, but never Chukwu or Chineke, God. In Christianity, they may be called angels and saints, but never God. Is Esu also Oluwa, Olorun, or God or only Olisa, Arusi, Spirit. or Angel?

The reason why I ask this question is that there is a consensus that, just as human life originated in Africa, the belief in one God also originated in Africa (see Freud on Moses and Monotheism). The ancient Egyptians were said to have started it by observing that the sun that shines for us also shines for our enemies and so if you pray that the sun should stop shining for your enemies, you are praying for the sun to stop shining for you. Therefore, love your enemies as yourself because there is a good reason why good things (like sunshine) happen to bad people.

Moses and Monotheism | Sigmund Freud | download Moses and Monotheism | Sigmund Freud | download | B–OK. Download books for free. Find books

So, na Esu be your God?

Biko