Benin: Candide Azannaï takes on a promise made by Talon to the youth
In a social media post, former Minister Delegate for National Defense, Candide Azannaï, strongly reacted to the statement by the Head of State, Patrice Talon, regarding his involvement in choosing his successor in 2026.
SUMMARY
On Monday, July 28, during a discussion at the Marina Palace with young Beninese from various political sensibilities, President Talon bluntly stated:
“I will be active in choosing my successor in 2026.”
This announcement did not leave the former-minister-turned-main-opposition-to-the-current-regime, indifferent. On his official page, Candide Azannaï expressed his indignation with these words:
“Anyone who fought the saying “after us, it’s us” under Boni Yayi must also fight the saying, under Talon, “I will be active in choosing my successor in 2026.”
For Candide Azannaï, history seems to be repeating itself, bringing along the pitfalls of a power intent on shaping its own succession. He is referring here to the famous phrase that gained popularity at the end of Boni Yayi’s second term in 2016:
“After us, it’s us,”
a slogan aimed at imposing Lionel Zinsou as his heir. An attempt that ended in a resounding failure against Patrice Talon, propelled at the time by a reformist coalition in which Azannaï was a strategic pillar.
From rupture to dissidence
But in the meantime, the ally has become a dissident. Azannaï, a key figure in the National Resistance, never misses an opportunity to denounce what he describes as the authoritarian drift of the Rupture regime.
His stance, more ideological than electoral, rejects both electioneering strategies as well as logic of violent confrontation.
He advocates a change of course, but without the ballot box and without violence. A unique, radical position, which is increasingly resonating with those who doubt the conventional paths of alternation.
A tense succession
If legally choosing a successor poses no problem, politically the approach is questionable. The fresh memory of 2016 provides material for controversy. For Azannaï, history should not repeat itself:
“There is no moral legitimacy in preparing one’s own succession in the shadows, much less in influencing the people’s choice,” he lets us understand.
As the countdown towards 2026 begins, the Beninese political scene enters a phase of high tension. The positioning of everyone in the face of this presidential declaration may well foreshadow the major political battles to come.
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