The Delta State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Solomon Arenyeka, has commended the FOOG Women Support Group for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, for its empowerment initiatives and efforts to mobilise support for the party.
Arenyeka gave the commendation on Wednesday when the President-General of FOOG, Chief (Mrs.) Esther Ori Okotie-Eboh, led members of the group on a courtesy visit to the APC State Secretariat in Asaba.
The APC chairman described FOOG as “a very veritable, dynamic, agile and politically structured group,” noting that its membership comprised politically conscious women and professionals occupying various positions.
According to Arenyeka, support groups play an important role in strengthening political parties by complementing the activities of the party structure.
“Support groups are instruments of driving the wheel of the party. If you just sit down and say APC every day, APC every day, we will get there, but it will not be as fast as when you have many support groups driving the vehicle of APC,” he said.
Arenyeka commended FOOG for identifying with the APC and urged its members to continue their activities peacefully while expanding their reach across the 25 local government areas of Delta State.
He also advised the group to ensure that its activities and messages remained in line with the principles of the APC, adding that the party would soon establish a directory of support groups as part of its campaign structure.
The APC chairman thanked the group for its visit and assured its members of the support of the party, stressing that “as you are working, you are also working for us.”
Earlier, the Director-General of FOOG, Chief (Mrs.) Esther Ori Okotie-Eboh, the Iye of Warri Kingdom, said the group had carried out more than 1,000 empowerment activities involving women and youths.
She explained that the purpose of the visit was to formally identify with the party leadership and seek its blessing for the group’s activities.
Mrs. Okotie-Eboh also commended the leader and patron of FOOG, Engr. Felix Ogbe, for his commitment to ensuring that the group extended its activities across the state.
She said, “The group has been going around empowering our women. We said we cannot do this without coming to meet our fathers and leaders of the party. Without them, we are nowhere.”
The Director-General of the group also thanked the former member of the Federal House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Daniel Reyenieju, for his support for the group. And also appreciating one of their members, Hon. (Mrs) Irene Imila, who was unavoidably absence from the courtesy visit to the APC State Secretariat, Asaba.
She disclosed that, as part of its empowerment activities, FOOG had presented 10 coolers, 10 gas cookers, 10 cooking pots and 10 frying pans to the APC, as well as 100 pieces of wrappers, to support the party and enable its leadership to select beneficiaries.
According to her, FOOG has more than 1,000 members and remains committed to empowering people through its “pay it forward” philosophy, under which beneficiaries are encouraged to extend similar assistance to other less-privileged people.
“When you empower me, I will also empower other people that are also less privileged. It goes around. If everybody can be paying it forward, the world will go well,” Okotie-Eboh said.
