US Senator Apologizes For 419 Jibe At Nigerians

A United States Senator, Ted Cruz, on Thursday apologized for taking a jibe at Nigerians, saying he did not mean to offend Nigerians with the statement he made regarding Nigeria.

Senator Cruz was speaking about technical glitches on a new US government website that have prevented Americans from buying health insurance under the Affordable Health Care Act, during which he jokingly said: “You know the Nigerian e-mail scammers? They have been a lot less active lately because they have all been hired to run the Obamacare web site.”

His comments stirred outrage among Nigerians and some political commentators across the world, as they demanded an apology from the senator. The Nigerian embassy in Washington called Cruz’s remarks “unguided” and "a very expensive joke...".

But a statement from the Senator's camp said, "The senator was making a joke based on the official term of a commonly utilised type of scam. He meant no offence.”

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