Ten days after a Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice D.O. Okorowo ordered the unconditional release of a Manager of Polaris Bank, Mr. Chinenye Hezekiah Duru, pending the determination of the originating summons, he is still being held in police custody.
Ruling on January 5, 204 in a case filed by the applicant’s counsel, Chukwuemeka Uduma Kanu Esq., Justice Okorowo ordered Mr. Chinenye Hezekiah, who has been in custody since early December 2023, to be released, pending the determination of the originating summons.
Duru has been having a running battle with his erstwhile spiritual leader, Most Rev Prof. Onukogu Victor Hezekiah, popularly known as Daddy Hezekiah, Head of the Living Christ Mission Church, with headquarters in Onitsha, Anambra State.
The banker had served Rev Hezekiah as his financial adviser and accounts officer.
Trouble between the two men reportedly started when the banker, who was also a top member of the Living Christ Mission and some other people decided to leave the Church, after expressing discomfort at some unethical development around the religious group.
In reaction to the development, Most Rev. Prof. Onukogu Victor Hezekiah alias Daddy Hezekiah, was said to have turned on Duru, and accused him of owing him billions of Naira.
The bishop reported the banker to the police. The matter is now in the court.
The magistrate court in Masaka, Nasarawa State had on December 11, 2023 ordered the detention of Duru.
But on December 21, 2023, the court granted him bail.
The Federal Court in Abuja, under Justice D.O. Okorowo, equally ordered Duru’s release from custody.
The order, has however, not been obeyed.
Meanwhile relations of Dr. Duru are complaining that while the matter is in the court, the followers of Daddy Hezekiah are all over Facebook and the internet tarnishing the image of the banker, without telling the public the sordid affairs inside the Living Christ Mission which Dr. Duru and some others criticized.