Nigerian-Americans demand apology from U.S. Senator over distasteful remarks

Members of the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans (CANAN) have called on Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to make a formal correction by retracting his disparaging remarks made about Nigerians.

According to local American media, Cruz, while taking a political swipe at the computer problems of the Affordable Care Act in the U.S, made unpleasant remarks against Nigerians.

“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,” the media quoted Cruz as saying on Monday in Houston.

CANAN in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Laolu Akande said that the US senator had maligned all hardworking, decent and outstanding Nigerian-Americans.

CANAN noted that Nigerian-Americans had added value and brought goodwill to their different communities, especially in Texas, with the largest concentration of Nigerian-Americans in the country.

“Although his office did confirm this, explaining that it was just a joke, CANAN finds it appalling that the good name and reputation of Nigerian-Americans is what the Senator can joke with whimsically.

“This is completely unacceptable. CANAN does not intend at this point to delve into the very nature of global and international scammers.

“We will only say this condemnable practice is not limited to any one country based on available information and research.

“We consider it an insult that a Senator who should be representing the people of his state could turn against some of his very own constituents in what is clearly a reckless and offensive remark.

“There is only one decent option open to Senator Cruz – an unconditional and full apology.

“We will be restrained at this point in order to allow for a respectable response from him,’’ Akande said.

CANAN, however, appealed to its teeming members drawn from over 1,000 local parishes in the U. S, several professional and ethnic groups, to await further developments. (NAN)