Posted on 10/24/2013 8:10:33 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
The Nigerian ambassador to the United States on Thursday decried Sen. Ted Cruz’s joke earlier this week that “Nigerian email scammers” built the government’s health care exchange website, saying his comments are offensive and demanded an apology.
Ambassador Ade Adefuye told POLITICO that Nigerians are “disappointed and shocked” by Cruz’s comments.
“We deplore the statement, and we demand an apology, and we demand it be withdrawn,” Adefuye said.
Cruz (R-Texas) made the remarks Monday night in Houston at a “Welcome Home” event with tea party supporters. The following day, Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) criticized the comments and said they appeal to a “backward” part of Cruz’s base that believes the president is from Africa.
Adefuye said he was surprised when Cruz did not deny the “offensive” remarks, adding that it’s inappropriate for a senator to disparage an entire country to score political points.
“It is unfair of any senator to essentially use citizens that are law abiding, to use Nigerians as cannon fodder,” Adefuye said. “We recognize that we have efforts on the part of Sen. Cruz to appeal to some animus in his domestic base. In the course of doing that, to allow him to ridicule a country and its citizens is completely over the top. He should not denigrate Nigerians in order to appease these domestic constituents.”
Speaking to POLITICO from Nigeria, Adefuye said the country is aware of Cruz’s comments and “angered” by them. He said Nigerians are good people who should not be made fun of for a joke.
“Many people from Nigeria are making meaningful contributions to American society, and Nigerians are very law abiding and making contributions to their host community,” Adefuye said. “It was a joke that went too far, and we demand an apology.”
A spokeswoman for Cruz said the comments were made in jest and were not intended to impugn Nigerians as a people.
“The senator meant no offense. He was making a joke based on the official term of a commonly utilized type of scam, referenced often by the FBI, security firms and various news sites,” Catherine Frazier said.
The FBI identifies “Nigerian letter fraud” on its website describing common fraud schemes, saying it involves a letter sent from Nigeria offering to share profits if the recipient helps a self-proclaimed government official transfer funds out of the country.
Okay, for a Nigerian audience Cruz should have said “419 scammer” instead of “Nigerian e-mail scammer” since that’s what Nigerian e-mail scams are called in Nigeria. The trouble is, Cruz was speaking to an American audience.
LOL try putting anything on craigslist for sale..you always get emails from those Nigerian scam artists looking to “Buy” your item for 3 times the asking price..I can smell them a mile away with the header “Dear Sir or Madam” followed by a long paragraph as to why they want the item shipped to God knows where
lol!
Dead cocoa plantation owner? I thought he was an investment banker. And to think I sent them 17 trillion dollars in good faith money, and they never sent me a dime. What's up with that? -:)
Mezvinsky used those funds to travel to Nigeria to pursue one hare-brained scheme after another. He ultimately lost more than $3 million to the scammers, falling especially hard for the notorious "black money" scam, where victims are told millions of dollars have been coated with black ink so the money could be smuggled out of Nigeria. The scammers then offer to sell a special, expensive chemical to clean the ink off of the money. Prosecutors say Mezvinsky fell for at least three separate "black money" schemes.
Mezvinsky pleaded guilty to more than 30 counts of fraud, and was sentenced to 80 months in federal prison. He has blamed bipolar disorder for his behavior.
In an interview with Des Moines Register from prison in 2003, Mezvinsky said he found the scam convincing. "The man later came out with a chemical, threw it on the money, and it all turned to $100 bills. He gave me 10 to have them tested back home. And they were real," Mezvinsky told the Register.
The FBI identifies “Nigerian letter fraud” on its website describing common fraud schemes, saying it involves a letter sent from Nigeria offering to share profits if the recipient helps a self-proclaimed government official transfer funds out of the country.
I'm pretty sure the Ubama mob put this Nigerian scumbag up to this. They probably coached him what to say. And then they forgot to wash the FBI's own site, lol!
Hmmmm....so you're saying Nigerian scammers are more competent than the Kenyan ones?
If the shoe fits...
Detroit is OZ compared to Nigeria....
You mean I didn’t win the $50,000,000 lottery
Cruz should issue a statement saying exactly that.
There are NONE Nigerian scammers in Nigeria!
There. I've apologized for him.
When Nigerian ambassador and his countrymen stop the bogus Nigerian emails...then he can talk
Two American oil workers were abducted by pirates off of Nigeria the other day...when is Nigeria going to apologize for that?
LOL...yes, I was going to say president but that is the answer.
I'll apologize to the SOB on behalf of Ted Cruz when I get that 16.5 million promised to me by one of his countrymen.
Does that work for you?
Better yet, why not pull in lowbridge to deal with this scam?
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LOWBRIDGERULES
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