Again Nigeria, has missed out in the list of African countries given the official nod to visit Canada without visa, as two other countries for the continent has been added to the list of 13 different countries across Asia, Africa, Central and South America, announced by the country’s authorities.

The Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Sean Fraser disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, said visa-free travel is extended to Antigua and Barbuda, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, St Kitts-Nevis, Panama, Argentina, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Morocco, Seychelles, st. Vincent and the Grenadines, Thailand and the Philippines.

While north Africa’s Morocco and East Africa’s Seychelles joined the list, Nigeria the most populous African nation didn’t make the cut, with Fraser, saying: “An expansion of the electronic travel authorization better known as the eTA programs makes it easier for ‘known travellers’ from those countries to come here for fun and business.’

Stating that the expansion not only enhanced convenience for travellers, it would also increase travel, tourism and economic benefits, as well as strengthen global bonds with these 13 countries, he said: “The known travellers from these countries can save a lot of money as a result of the visa exemptions.”

A visitor visa currently costs $100 per person and $500 for a family of five or more, but an eTA only costs seven dollars per person and is valid for as long as five years.

According to the government, introducing visa-free air travel will make it faster, easier, and more affordable for thousands of travellers to visit Canada for up to six months for either business or leisure.

It has turned out that the two people, a man and a lady, seen in a viral video, being assaulted by an angry mob who were about to set them on fire for allegedly killing two men in Anambra community for ritual purposes, are not guilty of the offence.

Anambra State Police Command, who confirmed on Thursday that the two had been rescued by their operatives, from the hands of the angry mob in Ihiala, Ihiala Local Government Area of the state, who attempted to set them on fire, claimed that they were being wrongly accused.

Spokesman of the command Tochukwu Ikenga, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), and spokesman of the command, who made the disclosure in a statement, said that its operatives rescued two victims and a suspect who was about to be lynched by an angry mob at the Total Junction in Ihiala.

Stating that the incident was not a case of ritual killing but a pure incident of murder, he said: “Preliminary information reveals that the two victims, a man and a woman, who were humiliated and paraded as shown in social media video by the angry mob, were erroneously accused by the mob. The victims were seen at the scene where the murder took place and were not the perpetrators.”

Ikenga, who informed that both the suspect and the victims were currently receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital while the deceased has been deposited in a morgue, appealed to the public never to take laws into their hands irrespective of assumed offence.

Disclosing that the Commissioner of Police (CP), Echeng Echeng, was already on top of the situation and had since sued for calm, he added that the police boss had also ordered the immediate transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), for a comprehensive investigation, while assuring that further developments would be communicated to the public and that all residents to go about their lawful duties.

Panic-stricken members of the Anambra State House of Assembly, watched in utter horror on Thursday as one of their colleagues was bundled into a waiting vehicle, by four gun-wielding men, preparatory to being whisked away, before mother-luck came calling.

It took the quick reflexes of security guards at the entrance who locked the gate, to prevent the armed men, who later turned out to be operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) from completing the operation.

The target of the operatives was Onyekachukwu Ike, the House of Assembly-elect member for the Nnewi North constituency, who had joined in the valedictory session for outgoing members, though it is not known why the members of the agency were after him.

Eyewitness account, said the operatives arrived the Assembly complex in three vehicles in a commando version, grabbed the member-elect as he emerged from the venue validectory thanksgiving mass for the seventh Assembly and forced him into their waiting vehicle.

However, it took the eagle-eyed members of the security team of the assembly to truncate the attempt to drive the lawmaker away, because they quickly locked the exit gate, thus halting the operation, as it gave people the opportunity to intervene.

Reacting to the incident, Acting Clerk of the Assembly, Esther Aneto, who bemoaned the manner the operatives carried out the operation, said neither the authorities of the assembly, nor the police was informed about it.

It took the intervention of the Speaker, Uche Okafor, and the Deputy Governor, Onyeka Ibezim, who came to represent the Governor at the Valedictory session before the member-elect was released from the vice grips of the DSS operatives, who however, explained that they had a court order to arrest him.