Nigerian writer Ogueke speaks of media attitude on Qatar’s alcohol ban at FIFA

Nigerian Writer and political economist Michael Ogueke have criticized the “western Media’s behaviour” following the alcohol ban necessitated by the government of Qatar at a sports stadium during the FIFA world cup.

Ogueke believes that the media is sensationalizing the issue and blowing it out of proportion. The press is behaving this way because this year’s host of the FIFA world cup, Qatar, is a Muslim nation.

The political economist reached out to his social media profile to express his opinion on the situation. According to Ogueke, The way the Western media, Western sports journalists & football fans are raving about the ban on alcohol by Qatar in and around the world cup stadiums is hypocritical & misleading.

In his opinion, the reaction of the fans and western media makes you think that the government has banned alcohol throughout the country. Meanwhile, the ban is only at the stadiums, while fans & visitors can have their fill of alcohol at their hotels & other designated centres.

Michael Ogueke reveals in his Facebook post that when one reads the Western press’s hypocritical hysteria over Qatar’s ban on alcohol at the World Cup stadiums, one would think Qatar is the first country to ban alcohol at sports stadiums during tournaments.

Several Western countries have banned alcohol at sports stadiums, including France. (They banned alcohol at the stadiums during the 24 nations Euro tournament in France in 2016.)

Ogueke finds it unfortunate that the Western press is making it look like banning alcohol in stadiums is a problem because Qatar – a Muslim country, is hosting the World Cup.

Talking further on the issue, the Nigerian Writer stated that even during the Euro 2016, France was still under a State of Emergency following the coordinated terrorist attacks & bombings of several locations in Paris. 130 people were killed in the incident. However, France was still allowed to host the tournament.

Ogueke alleges that if a non-Western nation was in place of France, and even one-tenth of what happened in Paris had occurred in the said nation, the hosting right of the tournament would have been withdrawn from that country by the football governing bodies citing insecurity.

Qatar is currently hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup. According to media reports doing rounds on the internet, the government of Qatar announced their stance on alcohol in the stadiums two days before the games’ opening.