E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.2 page 8 “No religious community or denomination shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for pupils of that community or denomination in any place of education maintained wholly by that community or denomination. “Nothing in this section shall entitle any person to form, take part in the activity or be a member of a secret society.” 27. It is to be noted that this constitutional provision specifically provides for the right to “change” religion,5 a provision that has some implications that will be developed in section V below. 28. Moreover, the last paragraph of article 38 refers to the prohibition of secret societies, which are defined in article 318 as: “any society, association, group or body of persons (whether registered or not) (a) that uses secret signs, oaths, rites or symbols and which is formed to promote a cause, the purpose or part of the purpose of which is to foster the interest of its members and to aid one another under any circumstances without due regard to merit, fair play or justice to the detriment of the legitimate interest of those who are not members; (b) the membership of which is incompatible with the function or dignity of any public office under this Constitution and whose members are sworn to observe oaths of secrecy; or (c) the activities of which are not known to the public at large, the names of whose members are kept secret and whose meetings and other activities are held in secret”. 29. Secret societies are also called “cults” and are usually formed by students at Nigerian universities. In recent years, these cults have allegedly committed a number of serious criminal offences, including murders, which have been appropriately addressed by the Government. Nevertheless, the Special Rapporteur has received reports according to which authorities had sometimes destroyed shrines which were thought to be related to the commission of criminal offences, but she has not been able to verify them. 30. In addition to protecting the right to freedom of religion per se, the Constitution provides, in its article 10, that “[t]he Government of the Federation or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State religion”. This provision, intended to preserve the multireligious character of Nigeria, is creating much controversy at a moment when sharia penal codes are being adopted in a number of states (see sect. V below). 31. Finally, a number of constitutional provisions, such as article 42, also provide for safeguards against different possible forms of discriminations on the basis of religion. 32. Besides constitutional provisions, sections 204 and 205 of the Criminal Code Act of Nigeria provides for a number of offences relating to religious worship. These provisions give specific protection to some aspects of the manifestation of religion, including with respect to clergy. The Special Rapporteur notes that the wording of these provisions gives them a potentially large scope of application which, if interpreted broadly, could lead to certain abuses, including in terms of freedom of religion. Nevertheless, she has not received any credible information that the use of this legislation may have caused violations of the right to freedom of religion.