Boni’s friends bad for cotton
Benin’s strategically vital cotton industry is being run by companies close to the president that have little experience of the industry. Perhaps not surprisingly, production figures have tumbled. [...]
Published on 05 March 2014
Paranoia takes hold of Boni Yayi's regime
The exercise of power has not exactly been plain sailing for Thomas Boni Yayi, as West Africa Newsletter's latest special report shows.
Heavily influenced by fellow Evangelists in his inner circle, the Beninese president seems to spend more time on internal palace politics than on running the country. A series of scandals has also tarnished the presidency of the former West African Development Bank chief since his election in 2006, exposing unprecedented levels of corruption in Beninese politics.
The most destructive of these involves the alleged plot by businessman Patrice Talon to poison the president Boni Yayi, an affair which has had an impact on the economy, particularly the cotton sector, the country's biggest export industry.
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BENIN 24/09/2014
BENIN 28/05/2014
Boni forgives Talon too late
Patrice Talon notched up a major victory in his business dispute with the Beninese government recently, helped by President Thomas Boni Yayi's temperamental behaviour. [...]
Boni Yayi pardon closes Talon affair
Thomas Boni Yayi's granting of a public pardon to Patrice Talon on May 14 was the result of several months [...]
BENIN 14/05/2014
Boni Yayi tests opinions of northern royals
On April 29 President Thomas Boni Yayi discreetly sent three [...]
BENIN 09/04/2014
Justice, Boni Yayi-style
A group of people suspected of involvement in an alleged plot to poison President Thomas Boni-Yayi remain in jail 18 months after an investigation into the affair began. No trial is on the cards. [...]
BENIN 26/03/2014
Boni black sheep of the family
Thomas Boni Yayi's family is angry at the president for allowing his niece Zouberath Kora-Seke to be jailed in connection with the Patrice Talon poisoning affair. [...]
BENIN 29/01/2014
Societe Generale victim of Talon fallout in Benin
African banks are not the only ones to have been [...]
BENIN 29/01/2014
Patrice Talon affair claims new victim
Heads continue to roll in the ongoing Patrice Talon affair. The latest to be shown the door is prosecutor Justin Gbènamèto. [...]
BENIN 15/01/2014
Talon stays on message in Paris
Exiled Beninese businessman Patrice Talon's busy networking in Paris over the Christmas holidays seriously irked Thomas Boni Yayi, West Africa Newsletter can reveal. [...]
BENIN 31/12/2013
Banks blighted by Boni’s bete noire
First accused of plotting to poison President Thomas Boni Yayi, ex-confidant Patrice Talon is now threatening to bring down Benin’s banks with debts totalling CFA 42 billion, West Africa Newsletter can exclusively reveal. [...]
BENIN 02/10/2013
Yayi tries to force Hollande’s hand
The president of Benin took advantage of François Hollande’s presence at the investiture of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to have a discreet discussion with him about the Talon affair. [...]
BENIN 18/09/2013
Boni Yayi's evangelist friends
Benin's president does not have an official spiritual advisor but he has a plethora of unofficial ones. [...]
BENIN 17/07/2013
Thomas Boni Yayi orders probe
Furious about the chaos surrounding the next cotton campaign, (WAN [...]
BENIN 19/06/2013
Boni Yayi plays crafty with constitution
President Thomas Boni Yayi is making a risky move by attempting to modify Benin's 1990 constitution. [...]
Questions over a magistrate's ruling
A decision by an examining magistrate on May 17 to throw out the case in the Talon affair has raised [...]
Talon affair: French report confirms FBI assessment
Several documents submitted by Benin's government in recent days could persuade magistrates at the Paris appeals court to put off [...]
The downward slide of a paranoid state
The regime of president Thomas Boni Yayi is going seriously adrift. Obsessed by more or less imaginary plots targeting its "evangelist president," Benin seems to entertain but one thought in its head: to fight against its "external and internal enemies. [...]
BENIN 09/01/2013
Poisoning probe continues
A number of key figures close to Thomas Boni Yayi have been charged with plotting to poison the head of state. [...]
BENIN 30/05/2012
Businessmen get around
Benin's entrepreneurs, appreciated all over West Africa for their contacts, are into everything from oil and property to the media business. [...]