Benin: Patrice Talon wants to turn the page on “Talon-Yayi” for the good of the country
During his televised interview on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, President Patrice Talon said that the prolonged confrontation between him and Boni Yayi is now harming the country.

“It would be good for us to leave the political scene. Our relationship is harming Benin,” President Talon said, before adding: “I can’t wait for my term to end so that Beninese people can experience something different, beyond Talon and Yayi Boni.”
For the head of state, the polarization of political life around the two of them prevents the emergence of a new generation of actors capable of writing a different chapter in Benin’s democratic history.
These remarks by President Patrice Talon stand in contrast with the plan to create a Senate in which the two figures would find themselves. For the coherence of his message, it would be wiser for the two to step away from the political scene. Their presence in a Senate as envisioned by the proposed constitutional revision would be even more harmful to Benin than it already is.
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