Hours after court orders Tompolo's arrest, militants blow up oil facilities in Delta state

Hours after a court ordered the arrest of a former Niger Delta warlord, Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo, some Niger Delta militants this morning blew up strategic oil pipelines in Warri South West local government area in Delta state.

The militants in other coordinated attacks, blew up oil pipelines between Ikpokpo and Odidi flow stations, mostly in Gbaramatu kingdom. Residents of the area say the attacks started shortly before midnight and lasted till the early hours of Friday morning. Most of them have fled their homes for fear of a gun battle between the militants and the military.

Strange figure spotted walking above clouds by plane passenger

This is eerie...an image photographed from a passenger plane by Nick O'Donoghue was posted on Reddit. It shows a distinct figure walking among the clouds. Nick said it was taken en-route to Cork in Ireland aboard an Easyjet flight. He told Irish lifestyle website Joe.ie that he had been heading home for Christmas via Gatwick airport.

The picture sparked speculation as to what had caused the mysterious formation. Some Reddit commenters said the figure looked like the children's character the Iron Giant. Mmm...

M’boma admits bad blood with former Cameroon teammate Wome

Patrick M’boma, former two time CAF Africa player of the year, has admitted that there’s still some bad blood between him and his former teammate Pierre Wome.

M’boma, a celebrated Cameroon international who guided his country to win gold in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, is alleged to have defrauded Wome of approximately 600,000 Euros to help set up a microfinance business.

He was eventually arrested at Yaounde International Airport on his way to France by Cameroon Authorities in April 2013.

M’boma was speaking in Nairobi, Kenya, where he is expected to grace the country’s most prestigious sports awards ceremony – SOYA Awards.

When asked about his relationship with his once Indomitable Lions teammate, a clearly upset M’boma admitted that he harbours no good memories of the former Cameroon defender, Wome.

“Our relationship is bad but I don’t think that should be mentioned here,” said M’boma.

“This is an awards ceremony. I don’t see why you should be talking about my personal relationship with Wome. Our relationship is very bad,” he added.

He however hinted of taking up a coaching role some day while dining with Kenya’s sports media but he did not spare Cameroon’s FA for the dwindling standards of football in the once Africa’s football powerhouse.

AfricaNews 

South Africa: Granny, 66, Gets Matric Certificate So She Can Start Crèche

A 66-year-old grandmother from Durban has just received her matric certificate, passing with great aplomb to boot so she can open up her own crèche facility.

Blossom Msibi was part of the class of 2015 to successfully receive a school-leaving qualification from the Fezisifiso Adult Centre, south of Durban, The Daily Sun reported.

Her motivation? She wants to start a crèche one day and needs a matric certificate to do so.

She had to leave school in Grade 7 due to family problems, the newspaper reported.

She achieved 79% for both Maths and Science, and scored an average of 69% for her remaining subjects.

Her teachers have applied for funds on her behalf to help her open her crèche.

Top matric pupil gets R150 000 car

Mpumalanga's top performing matric pupil meanwhile received the surprise of her life, being presented with a brand new car worth R150 000 for her achievements sponsored by Imperial Toyota Nelspruit, News24 reported.

Sumaiya Jeewa, 18, who wrote her matric at the Middelburg Muslim School, got six distinctions - for Mathematics, Physical Science, Accounting, Life Science, English and Afrikaans.

She thanked her parents and her maths teacher for encouraging her to work hard.

"I did not expect this. I feel overwhelmed, excited, very blessed and humble to receive this award. I thank God for blessing me and my family," she told a News24 correspondent on Thursday morning.

"It proves that if you work hard you can achieve anything and here I am today."

She said she will use the car to travel to the University of Pretoria, where she'll be studying.

How a principal beat the blackboard jungle

And a principal in Durban has inspired the nation's teachers with an innovative way to teach in rural areas, News24 reported.

He beat a serial rapist, overcame a tiny government subsidy, a scarcity of textbooks and no laboratory at his rural KwaZulu-Natal school to produce a matric class that beat the odds, including one pupil with nine distinctions.

Principal Nhlanhla Dube's day starts at 03:30, when he embarks on a two-and-a-half hour drive from Pinetown to his Amangwane High School in Bergville in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains to get to school before the school bell rings.

"I am really proud of him because this was the first time in the history of the school that we had a child get straight As."

In a bid to produce quality matriculants Dube came up with a programme called the 6-4-6 turnaround strategy.

Source: News24