He received his education first in the regional capital of Parakou before moving on to earn a master's degree in economics at the National University of Benin.

[3] The sitting president, Mathieu Kérékou, had been a dominant force in the politics of the country since the early 1970s and there were serious doubts about him agreeing to allow a transition of power.

[3]In the 2007 parliamentary elections, a coalition that was led by the Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin (FCBE) and supported Boni earned the largest share of seats.

By August 2010, an increasingly unified coalition was able to get a majority of the parliament to vote to impeach Boni for his involvement in a Ponzi scheme that took the savings of 100,000 people in Benin.

[5] While they did not get the required two-thirds majority to remove Boni from power, the opposition agreed to organize around Houngbédji in the 2011 presidential election.

[4] A new voter system in the country was widely criticized by the opposition, and with the assistance of international organizations, Boni agreed to a two-week delay in the 2011 presidential election.

[6] In September 2021, Patrice Talon and Thomas Boni Yayi, political allies who have become intimate enemies, met at the Marina Palace in Cotonou.

During this tête-à-tête, Thomas Boni Yayi presented Patrice Talon with a series of proposals and requests, relating in particular to the release of "political detainees".

[10] In February, Colonel Pamphile Zomahoun and businessman Johannes Dagnon blocked Yayi while returning from a trip from an African Union meeting at Equatorial Guinea.

[13] A descendant of the Yoruba princes of Sabe in his own right, both Boni Yayi and his wife were awarded chieftaincy titles by the Nigerian king of Ile-Ife, Olubuse II, in 2008.