There are arguments for and against what has happened here and I honestly understand both sides.
I think the best way forward here is to make an official faction creation request. There has been a lot of uncertainty and inactivity lately so it's difficult to truly determine what exactly is going on, but if the faction is active and organised enough going forward then a short two month period will result in officialdom once again and we're back to how things were. If this isn't achieved then unofficial is where the faction should be.
My recommendation to the Samura players is to get a writeup posted and show that the faction is properly united and back in action again. If it is, then making official again will be easy.