PLUTOPHOBIA

PLUTOPHOBIA

A new word will enter the streets of Nigeria.

It is PLUTOPHOBIA: the fear of the rich.

It won’t mean, as it often does, the fear of getting rich.

It will mean the fear and loathing for those who are getting rich, while the majority of Nigerians see themselves as getting poorer by the minute.

Plutophobia, in this instance, is the opposite of PLUTOPHILIA.

The poor will attack those they perceive to be rich.

It is not a revolution. It is just a hurricane. It is worse than a revolution because it is not man-made, but a force of nature.

This hurricane that will sweep through Nigeria will be nameless, masked, furious and inconsolable.

Plutophobia will flow in unpredictable directions with predictable vehemence.

The streets, filled to the brim with young men and women wearing dirty masks, will get inpatient with the owners of luxury cars.

The streets will attack SUVs, Mercedes Benz, Toyota, Volvo, Land Rovers, Jaguar, Lexus, Cardilac, BMW, Audi, Posche, and other vehicles that shine, and look glamorous.

They will not be interested in the identities of the occupants of the luxury vehicles.

They will not ask if you are Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba or Edo, or Efik.

They will not ask if you are Christian, Muslim or Orisa worshippers.

They will see your car, your house, your smooth skin, and your rotund body. With those signs they will mark you and condemn you.

Those who are wise will pack their sleek vehicles at home and ride okada, or walk around the urban places.

The police will line the streets to protect the upper and the middle class.

The upper class will jump in their private jets and flee.

Or they will buy plane tickets—while the planes still continue to ply Nigeria—and escape from the country.

But the middle class will have nowhere to run to. And they will be too scared to enter their cars and drive through the street.

May this vision prove false, and may we not witness the wrath of plutophobia, as the streets turn sharply from shouting “Alaye baba,” to snarling “Oyo lo wah!”

And wealthy folks will be truly scared to be rich or perceived as being rich.