Section 156: Provisions where accused found insane

(1) Where, on the trial of a person by a court-martial, it appears to the Court that the accused is by reason of insanity unfit to stand his trial, the Court shall so find, and if the finding is confirmed in accordance with the following provisions of this section, the accused shall be kept in custody in such manner as may be provided by or under rules made under this Part of this Act, until the pleasure of the President is known or until any earlier time at which the accused is fit to stand his trial.
(2) Where, on the trial of a person by a court-martial, it appears to the Court that the evidence is such as, apart from any question of insanity, to support a finding that the accused was guilty of an offence, but that at the time of the act or omission constituting that offence the accused was by reason of mental disease or natural mental infirmity not criminally responsible for the act or omission alleged as constituting that offence, the court-martial shall find that the accused committed the act or omission but was insane at the said time.
(3) On a finding under subsection (2) of this section-
(a) the accused shall be kept in custody in such manner as may be provided by or under rules made under this Part of this Act until the directions of the President are known;
(b) the President may give orders for the safe custody of the accused during his pleasure in such place and in such manner as he thinks fit.
(4) A finding under subsection (1) of this section shall not have effect unless and until the finding has been confirmed by an authority who would have had power to confirm a finding of guilty by the court-martial in question and has been promulgated.
(5) Where the court-martial or the confirming authority comes to or substitutes a finding under subsection (2) of this section, the confirming authority or, as the case may be, the reviewing authority shall not have power to substitute for that finding, a finding of guilty.
(6) Except as provided in subsection (5) of this section, the provisions of this Act as to revision, confirmation and review (and in particular the provisions of this Act which confer power to substitute for a finding any other finding which could have been come to by the court-martial in question) shall apply in relation to a finding under subsection (2) of this section as those provisions apply in relation to a finding of guilty.
(7) Except as otherwise provided in this Act or unless the context otherwise requires, a reference in this Act to a conviction or a finding of guilty in respect of an offence includes a reference to a finding under subsection (2) of this section in respect of the offence.
(8) For the purposes of this section, "unfit to stand trial" means under any disability such as apart from the Criminal Procedure Law or the Criminal Procedure Code, as the case may be, would constitute a bar to trial on indictment in Nigeria.