Section 169: Limitation of time for trial of offences under this Act

(1) No person shall be tried by a court-martial for an offence (other than mutiny, failure to suppress mutiny or desertion) unless the trial is begun within three years after the commission of the offence, regard not being had to any period of time during which that person was a prisoner of war or was illegally absent, so however that-
(a) in the case of an offence under section 114 of this Act where proceedings for the corresponding civil offences are, by virtue of any written law, to be brought within a limited time, that limit of time shall apply to the trial of the offence under that section in substitution for the foregoing provisions of this subsection;
(b) a person may, subject to a time limit prescribed by any written law mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection and to the consent of the Attorney-General of the Federation, be tried by a court-martial for a civil offence committed outside Nigeria notwithstanding that it was committed more than three years before the beginning of the trial.
(2) A person shall not be triable by virtue of subsection (1) of section 168 of this Act unless his trial is begun within three months after he ceases to be subject to service law under this Act or the trial is for a civil offence committed outside Nigeria and the Attorney-General of the Federation consents to the trial, but this subsection shall not apply to the offences of mutiny, failure to suppress mutiny and desertion under this Act.
(3) A person shall not be arrested or kept in custody by virtue of subsection (1) of section 168 of this Act for an offence at any time after he has ceased to be triable for the offence.