US Senator's 'Joke' Angers Nigerians
Nigerians have expressed their dissatisfaction with the United States lawmaker, Ted Cruz, for blaming the glitches plaguing the Obamacare website on Nigerians.
Many Americans had been experiencing error messages and long waits in trying to sign on to healthcare.gov, the online insurance portal under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, which offers health insurance plans to millions of uninsured US citizens.
Cruz, played a major role in the showdown in Washington over the rollout of Obamacare that resulted in a 16-day shutdown of the American government.
The Senator, who had attempted to defund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at a “Welcome Home” speech in Houston, the largest city in the State of Texas, said rather jokingly that President Barrack Obama had hired Nigerian scammers to run the website.
In the video which circulated on YouTube, Cruz said, “I’ve spent the past month in Washington, DC. It is terrific to be back. You may have noticed that all the Nigerian email scammers have become a lot less active lately. They all have been hired to run the Obamacare website which is malfunctioning.”
But many Nigerians are angry with Cruz over the statement and have condemned what they describe as an “expensive joke.”
According to them, Cruz’s statement is not only unguarded and undiplomatic but a “racist” comment. A YouTube user, Olu Omole, lamented that Cruz should have expressed himself during his speech to his constituents without bruising diplomatic relations. He said the US lawmaker’s statement was an insult to the generality of Nigerians.
Omole said, “Can’t he (Cruz) express himself without insulting others? Some people are just pathetic. Crippling his nation, the US, does he think it’s the best thing to do? If he is angry with Obama winning the last election, then he should face him and not insult Nigeria as a nation.
“This comment is unguarded, irresponsible, undiplomatic, and unethical. What do we say of home grown American terrorists, American criminals alcohol smugglers, scam artists, the pedophiles, serial killers, and, of course, the usual school shooters? Then would it be right to tag Americans as killers and criminals?”
Source: Legit.ng
