Benin’s President Patrice Talon is safe, and security forces are restoring order after a faction of soldiers claimed to have removed him from power, the presidency announced on Sunday.

In a brief statement, the presidency dismissed the soldiers’ declaration as the actions of a fringe group with limited influence.

“This is a small group of individuals who only managed to seize the television station. The regular army is steadily regaining control. Both the city and the entire country remain completely secure,” the statement said.

The clarification follows an earlier broadcast by soldiers identifying themselves as the “Military Committee for Refoundation,” who declared that Talon had been removed from office.

The government has since described the broadcast as an isolated disruption, assuring citizens that the situation is under control.

The political dynamics rocking the Labour Party (LP) took a fresh turn in Imo State after the Interim National Chairman, Senator Nenadi Usman—aligned with the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and Abia State Governor, Alex Otti—unveiled a new interim State Working Committee for the state.

The party also announced Interim State Working Committees for more than 30 states across the federation.

The newly constituted leadership in Imo was announced through a statement issued by the Interim National Working Committee, which said the appointments followed resolutions of the party’s National Executive Council and were in line with provisions of the 2019 Labour Party Constitution, as amended.

Mr. Excel Ochiama was named chairman of the Imo interim leadership, alongside a full executive structure that includes several deputy chairmen, a secretary, assistant secretaries, treasurer, publicity secretary, youth leader, women leader, auditor, legal adviser and organizing secretary.

However, the development has further exposed the deepening fracture within the opposition party, as the rival faction led by Julius Abure, which also claims to be the authentic national leadership of the Labour Party, continues to operate a parallel executive structure in Imo State and several other states of the federation.

The Abure faction has consistently maintained that the Supreme Court judgment which altered the leadership equation at the national level did not, in clear and express terms, hand over the leadership of the party to Senator Nenadi Usman, insisting that no court has directly affirmed her as national chairman.

On the other hand, the Nenadi Usman camp has drawn strength from key legal and institutional developments. In court filings, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has acknowledged that Abure’s tenure as national chairman had expired and also refused to recognise or accept the 27 March 2024 national convention organised by the Abure faction in Nnewi, Anambra State.

Despite this position taken by INEC at the level of legal documentation, Abure’s name reportedly still appears as national chairman on some of the commission’s official public records, a contradiction that has continued to fuel controversy and deepen mistrust between both camps.

The Nenadi Usman-led faction has also enjoyed growing support from organised associations of Labour Party candidates and stakeholders nationwide, who have publicly endorsed her interim leadership and described her emergence as necessary to rescue the party from prolonged instability.

Political observers who spoke to Ekwutosblog

say the aggressive consolidation of party structures by the Nenadi Usman–Obi–Otti political axis is part of a broader strategy to reposition the party ahead of future national elections, amid rising expectations that Peter Obi may again seek the presidency in 2027.

Although Obi has yet to make any formal declaration, analysts believe the tightening grip of his loyalists on critical party structures across key states is a strong indicator of early preparation for another major national outing.

Meanwhile, the core question of who controls the authentic national leadership of the Labour Party remains tied up in multiple suits before the courts, leaving the party trapped in a prolonged legal and political standoff that continues to weaken its internal cohesion and blur its public identity as Nigeria’s most prominent opposition force.

Martin Amaewhule, Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Tori News reports Amaewhule defected along with 15 other members of the House on Friday.

Amaewhule said the defection is due to clear division in the PDP.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the state earlier this year in March, suspending the Governor, Sim Fubara and his Deputy alongside members of the State Assembly.