US Senator Apologises to Nigerians on Internet Scam Statement

United States senator, Ted Cruz

A United States senator, Ted Cruz, has offered an apology
to Nigerians over his widely publicised statement at a Texas
town hall meeting, that the Obamacare website had been
invaded by Nigerian internet scam artists.

In a letter written to Rev. Felix Awotola, who represents the
Nigerian community in Houston Texas, Cruz's South-east
Texas Regional Director, David Sawyer, said it was all a joke
when his principal referred to Nigerian e-mail scam.
According to Sawyer, "it is unfortunate that we're living in a
time just about every joke is misconstrued to cause an
offence to someone. Senator Cruz has never nor would ever
use a blanket term in a derogatory fashion against such a
vibrant and integral part of our community.
This usage was
never directed to the Nigerian community as a whole
"To the good people of Nigeria- a beautiful nation where
my wife lived briefly as a child of missionaries, no offence
was intended. I am fully appreciated of the range of mutual
economic and security interests which make Nigeria an
important friend to the United States."
Sawyer said the term was in common usage as a recognised
scam by the FBI and State Department, a common
vernacular used by the media, adding: "Senator Cruz
regrets any misunderstanding."
Intimating the Nigerian ambassador to the US, Professor
Ade Adefuye, Adetula said he was pleased to note that
Cruz was now gradually beginning to swallow his words, as
could be seen from Sawyer's letter.
"They have called on the phone for a meeting at the highest
possible level to end this matter once and for all. A condition
for my acceptance to be present at the meeting is for Cruz
himself to be personally present otherwise I will send my
chief of protocol. We are determined to make this case an
example that Nigeria and Nigerians cannot be kicked
around," he said.
Earlier at an ABC interview, Adetula on behalf of the
Nigerian community in Houston, Texas condemned the
statement that put Nigerians in bad light with a spate of
condemnations over the statement coming from a number of
distinguished Nigerian professionals led by Ambassador
Adefuye.
Adefuye had asked Cruz to offer unreserved apology to
Nigerians over the statement that the new Affordable Care
Act Exchange Website of the US was being run by Nigerian
email scammers.
According to him, Nigerians at home and in the US were
shocked to hear that the leading Republican Senator who
spearheaded the recent shutdown of the Obama
Administration could be associated with such a remark,
which till date has not been denied by Cruz.
Said Adefuye: "For a start we are shocked that a high
profile Senator of a country which is at the forefront in
building a peaceful and stable world in which nations and
peoples treat each other with mutual respect could be
engaged in an act which offends the sensitivities of an
important component of his constituency.
"Our immediate reaction at the Embassy is to assume that
you were wrongly quoted and that the statement would be
denied. We are however surprised that this has not
happened. We have no choice than to assume that the
statement was deliberately made by you."
Source:Thisday
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