Cryptocurrency has continued to witness institutional adoption even though the market’s frenzy seems to have died down since last year. Besides financial institutions adding cryptocurrency to their payment structure, governments around the world are seriously considering how to onboard cryptocurrency or adopt it as a legal tender.

Last year, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender, setting the pace that other countries are now following or considering.

On Monday, the National Assembly of The Central African Republic (CAR) voted on the Draft Law Governing Cryptocurrency, which was adopted favorably by acclamation and unanimity, FX Empire reported. The CAR thus becomes the first African country to adopt crypto as a legal tender.

The legislation was introduced into the Assembly by the minister of finance and budget, Calixte Nganongo, and the minister of the digital economy, postal services, and telecommunications, Gourna Zacko.

This would establish the legal framework for cryptocurrency regulation in the country while also establishing Bitcoin as an officially accepted currency.

The purpose behind the approval of the legislation was twofold. One was to introduce and create a legal framework governing cryptocurrency and the establishments handling these currencies (ex. – exchanges, lending and borrowing platforms, etc.).

And secondly, through the bill, a favorable environment for the financial sector will be established that will be set to meet the needs of the profession in this sector and all economic actors.

Commenting on the reason behind introducing the bill, Gourna Zacko said: “With crypto-currency, there is no more control of the Central Bank. You have your money, you send it to an investor for a business, you receive it in any currency, you can dispose of it in Dollar, Euro, CFA, or Naira”.

The effect that El Salvador had on the world and the crypto world with the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender and the policies introduced favorable to the same is visible in this decision as well.

Other Governments Accept Crypto Too

While the Biden administration of the United States of America is yet to give a concrete status to cryptocurrencies, many leaders of the States have already implemented changes in their power.

Recently as reported by FXEmpire, the Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, announced that the state would begin accepting payments of taxes in cryptocurrency by this summer.

And following him, the State Senator of California Sydney Kamlager laid down a proposal for accepting cryptocurrencies for payments for the provision of government services.

Unlike the CAR, other African countries are yet to create a policy framework on crypto. Some like Nigeria have made crypto transactions illegal even though the West African country is one of its biggest markets.

Although the global crypto market continues to trend downwards, the expanding adoption of cryptocurrencies is expected to help in recovery, boosting economies along the way.

Penultimate week, precisely on the night of Saturday, 23rd April 2022, three indigenes of Kajola in Odogbo Local Government Area (LGA) of Ondo State reportedly feared dead at a Police Checkpoint, shortly after they were fatally knocked down by a ‘hit-and-run’ driver.

According to reports, the deceased persons, who included the village head of the said area, were prior to the accident riding on a motorcycle, on the Lagos-Ore Expressway in Ondo State.

It’s noteworthy that the residents of the area had accused the police of being responsible for the untimely death of the three, owing to their illicit activities on the road, on a daily basis.

Reacting to the accusation, the Ondo State Police Command, on Sunday, 24th April 2022, stated that its officers were not responsible for the death of the three accident victims.

The command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Funmilayo Odunlami, while refuting the allegation, claimed that the victims’ death was not due to police recklessness but flouting of traffic rules.

She disclosed that the deceased used a motorcycle without a headlamp, adding they were riding on a one-way route, thus leading to a head-on collision with a speeding vehicle.

“The death of the victims was not caused by the police, as is being circulated. They died as a result of flouting traffic rules. The deceased were riding a motorcycle with no headlamp on a one-way route and had a head-on collision with a speeding vehicle. They have died now and are not able to tell the story.

“Youths should find a way of registering their grievances. Lynching police officers or burning down police station at every slightest opportunity is barbaric.

“Police are there to protect them, while there are several emergency numbers through which they can report issues to the police headquarters. They should not take laws into their hands.” The Police spokesperson said.

The youth in the area had accused the police of extortion at a checkpoint in the area, which they described as illegal. A witness, Funmi Olowogboye told newsmen that the accident occurred when the police officers were trying to extort the victims while a speeding vehicle trying to escape arrest crushed them to death.

The youths had, in their large numbers, swooped on Kajola Police Station with the corpses of the deceased, and attempted to burn it down.

It took the combined efforts of police operatives and other security agents to prevent the youth from lynching the personnel and razing the police station as well as restoring normalcy in the area.

It could be that the Commissioner of Police in the State, Oyeyemi Oyediran had, upon assumption of duty, ordered the immediate dismantling of all illegal roadblocks and checkpoints on the Ore-Benin Expressway.

Whatever that might have caused the accident, the truth remains that the various checkpoints of the point, in the guise of protecting the lives property of the citizens, end up constituting more nuisance than good.

On several occasions, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) had ordered dismantling of every illicit checkpoint along Nigeria’s major roads, yet till date, the ugly situation remains the same.

It’s no longer news that any IGP that comes on board wouldn’t hesitate to issue a directive as regards illegal checkpoints on the expressways across the federation, but it seems the order keeps falling on deaf ears.

This is the reason many concerned Nigerians have been compelled to believe that the various police authorities or bosses in the country have their own share of the tolls being collected at the checkpoints situated at their respective jurisdictions.

A birthday celebration in Lagos last Sunday turned sour when trigger-happy police security who was hired to guard the venue decided to shoot some shots into the air for the entertainment of the guests.

According to the eyewitness report; the policeman was not able to properly position the gun but rather shot into the crowd killing three persons on the spot and leaving numerous others who scampered for their lives severely wounded. 

Some things cannot just be justified. How can you justify a policeman shooting into the air as he claimed or opening fire with an Ak47 rifle fully loaded in a crowded public place in the name of cheering on the crowd? 

This is a common occurrence in Nigeria, policemen shoot into the air at parties and guests will cheer them on but this police guy and the guests at the party on Sunday became quite unfortunate. 

In an act like this, the offender (the shooter) will be charged with murder, it does not matter that it was an accidental discharge or he had no intention (the mensrea) of shooting directly at the victims or that he only wants to release some shots into the air. This is usually an offense of strict liability. 

A trained policeman armed with rifles is presumed to know that the aftermath of a shooting in a crowded public place is getting some people shot. There’s no reasonable justification whatsoever for those shots unless the police agency now permits its officers to shoot into the air for celebratory purposes. 

For clarifications purposes of what the term murder or unlawful homicide really means under the Nigeria law; i will replicate its definition as provided in the criminal code act. 

Section 315 of the act hereby provides (Unlawful homicide); 

Any person who unlawfully kills another is guilty of an offense which is called murder or manslaughter, according to the circumstances of the case.

Section 316 went on to state the circumstances where murder or unlawful homicide will be said to have taken place, thus:

316: Except as hereinafter set forth, a person who unlawfully kills another under any of the following circumstances, that is to say?

(1) if the offender intends to cause the death of the person killed, or that of some other person;

(2) if the offender intends to do to the person killed or to some other person some grievous harm;

(3) if death is caused by means of an act done in the prosecution of an unlawful purpose, which act is of such a nature as to be likely to endanger human life;

(4) if the offender intends to do grievous harm to some person for the purpose of facilitating the commission of an offence which is such that the offender may be arrested without warrant, or for the purpose of facilitating the flight of an offender who has committed or attempted to commit any such offence;

(5) if death is caused by administering any stupefying or overpowering things for either of the purposes last aforesaid;

(6) if death is caused by wilfully stopping the breath of any person for either of such purposes, is guilty of murder.

The act of the policeman shooting some shots into the air falls into the category provided in S. 316 (3): “…. which act is of such a nature as to be likely to endanger human life”. 

Therefore, When a person who ought to know and was negligent in his actions which led to the death of another person, the offender will be held to have committed murder and it does not matter that the killer has no intention (mensrea) to cause the death of the victim. 

Murder as an offense is the only crime currently that carries capital punishment in Nigeria. Therefore the punishment for murder as provided in the criminal code act is the death sentence;

S 319(1) provides; Subject to the provisions of this section of this Code, any person who commits the offense of murder shall be sentenced to death.

Section 33(1) of the constitution also acknowledges the death penalty for an offender. It provides thus: Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offense of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria.

Trigger happy policemen and other security agents should know that in every action there are consequences, when you cause the unjustified death of another you will pay for it with your own life, it does not matter that the act was done in your line of duty.