NewStats: 3,265,471 , 8,186,833 topics. Date: Sunday, 15 June 2025 at 06:48 AM 6r2855

US Senator, Ted Cruz, is asking for a peace meeting with Nigerian-Americans who have demanded that he retracts his controversial joke last week which many of them considered insulting, Empowered Newswire reports.

According to a letter from the senator released over the weekend to leaders of the Nigerian community in Houston, Texas, where the controversial comments were made, the senator “regrets any misunderstanding.”

The letter was signed by one of the aides of the senator, Mr David Sawyer, the South-East Texas Regional Director in his office. Sawyer, in another correspondence, is also asking for a peace meeting today between Senator Cruz and representatives of the Nigerian community in Houston.

Senator Cruz has been bombarded with several phone calls from Nigerians in Houston and all across the US since last Monday October 21 comments.

Besides, there has been a big splash of negative media focus on the American Senator here in the US, which peaked on Friday with the widely reported response of the Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Professor Ade Adefuye, who in a firm manner asked the US Senator to apologize.

The letter of apology, a copy of which was made available to Empowered Newswire yesterday, quoted the senator directly in part. It read thus. Earlier this week, Senator Ted Cruz made a joke in which he used the term “Nigerian email scam.”

Senator Cruz regrets that “it is unfortunate that we’re living in a time where just about every joke can be misconstrued to cause offence to someone.”

Senator Cruz has never, nor would ever use a blanket term in a derogatory fashion against such a vibrant and integral part of our community. This usage was never directed to the Nigerian community as a whole.

“To the good people of Nigeria — a beautiful nation where my wife lived briefly as the child of missionaries — no offence was intended.

“I am fully appreciative of the range of mutual economic and security interests that make Nigeria an important friend to the United States,” Senator Cruz said in a statement released yesterday.

Senator Cruz regrets any misunderstanding.

The letter was printed on Ted Cruz official US Congress paper and was dated Friday, October 25.

Adefuye’s interview with a number of leading US media has been making the waves here in the last few days, following after several other calls from Nigerian groups and individuals condemning the controversial US Senator.

According to the Houston Chronicle , Senator Cruz while taking a political swipe at the computer problems of the Affordable Care Act rollout, was reported as saying “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.”

Right after that statement, the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans (CANAN) issued a statement widely circulated here in the US describing the comments as “distasteful, and disparaging.”

According to CANAN, in a statement by its Executive Director, Laolu Akande, “Cruz has maligned all hardworking, decent and outstanding Nigerian-Americans who add value and bring goodwill to their different communities, especially in Texas, with the largest concentration of Nigerian-Americans in this country.”

Demanding for an apology, CANAN rejected the senator’s explanation that it was just a joke, saying the association “finds it appalling and reprehensible that the good name and reputation of Nigerian-Americans is what the senator can joke with whimsically. This is completely unacceptable.”

Adefuye also confirmed yesterday that the embattled US Senator “has called on the phone for a meeting at the highest possible level to end this matter once and for all.”

He assured that the Federal Government is “determined to make this case an example that Nigeria and Nigerians cannot be kicked around.”

SOURCE

Where's Ogugua?

He still hasn't apologized.

donphilopus:


SOURCE

K

The guy dey craze....from a yahoo boy.
#Hypocrites.

We are watching

*speechless*
No matter how expensive your wristwatch is, if it cannot tell us the time ASUU will call off the strike, then it is as useless as the letter 'p' in the word pSYCHOLOGY!

Nigeria my fatherland. Peace be unto u

Its better. Nigeria is a natIon and should be treated like one

Hm m

He has even insulted Nigerians again........... So we cant diffrentiate between a joke and an insult? That dude must be high on a combination of tramadol, diazapan, emzloyn, totolyn, rocheez, priton and cannibis...

he should shove his meeting and apology up his a$$.
"Yahoo boys" should be hunted and gunned down, hate those MTFs

Its all politics.

pls this guy should go to hell and shut the fcck up. He hasn't made any freaking apology, but has only succeeded in insulting our intelligence all the more! Is he trying to say we're so daft that we don't know the difference between a joke and an insult?? Jeez!..wat an insult! He should just save his damn apology..and go kiss the rocks.

booqee: He can lick my arsse

Onto another level

You wan give the poor man diarrhoea abi na cholera

i hope that after he meets with them and apologises garri price at mama nkechi's shop will also apologise for selling itself at 30naira per cup to me?

He shld tender a proper apology rather dan beating arnd d bush!

"SORRY" truly is a difficult word to say.

Could it be they are now afraid of nigeria.

This is what happens when corruption has corrupted the mind of the leader and followers

I receive the damn scam emails all the time from the Nigerian 419s, it ain't like we ain't guilty. We are known for online scams same way Italians are known for being mafians.

Why can't this Nigerian American group channel the same energy towards making Nigerian government/people perform rather than trying to cover up an already tarnished image. We created the reputation and we are the only one to make it right, not Mr Ted Cruz..Misplaced priorities again

What's the purpose of the meeting? Just apologise and move on jor

dats trash. u can't he use the world sorry.

maxi-t:
..Nonsense.
Nigerians are scammers.
No need to apologize.

You are a Clown.

Let see how it ends; I trust 9ja..we be python, U̶̲̥̅ step on our tail, we spoil ur Gari 4 life..

I maintained after his first distasteful comment that it was wrong. I'm disappointed some here are defending Ted Cruz & claiming 'he said the truth'. There're Nigerian scammers but Americans are bigger scammers. They're bigger criminals, they're just able to cover their tracks. Now it's not in his position to use nigerian negatives as a 'joke', it's none of his business. I've added Ted Cruz to one of the numerous synonyms for foolishness. Ted Cruz is a perfect example of a dumb American. To think that this kid is one of those who criticize Obama. I'd chose Obama over this dumb piece of shi.t every time.

Is time anyone that insults us gets to pay for it.

where is sexkillz girlfriend?

Nobody should quote me pls



Nigerians should thank sen Cruz , becos a true friend is d one dat will tell u dat u ve a mouth odor.
For example I. See seun's wife with big stomach and I told mukina that I seun's wife is pregnant, seun becomes aggravated for telling on his wife. To me it mks no sense.

Instead of our leaders to tk dis embarrassing act as a challenge or challenges and as means to empower d youths, they rather compelling sen Cruz to Mk an apologia, Wat good would cruz's apologies mak ?

Would dat redeem our image frm ridicules dat our so called leaders ve created an avenue 4?
They ve made the youths very idle, and the idle man's mind is d okija juju workshop

I'm so ashamed on d manner wich I receive spams from nija boys on daily basis, with dumb repeated techniques

It's so sad that we Nigerians forget things easily, becos of dis saga, we forgot mata dat Matas most. Wat a shame on Nigerian youths who signed for cruz's apologia.instead of revolting against our leaders who ve brought shame and wasted d efforts of our heroes past.


This is a clear picture that d reason nija was removed frm d lottery list was becos of our fraudulent act and not d excuses we read.


on behalf of all sane nijans I use dis opportunity to say thank u sen Cruz for d reminder
.