Nigerians have expressed their dissatisfaction
with the United States lawmaker representing the State of Texas in the American
Senate, 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?”
Another enraged YouTube user, Moses Ogbeide,
after watching the video, explained that it was regrettable that a member of
the upper chamber of the US congress will utter such a fallacious statement.
“Scammers are just everywhere and in the US too.
If some kids did it, it doesn’t give you (Cruz) the impetus to malign a whole
country. Former President Bush’s invasion of Iraq doesn’t make me call all
Americans terrorists.” Click on read more to continue...
