I don't think a leader can set his rank back to normal cabal member (except maybe in empire). All he can do is induct or uninduct. So the only way for a leader to step down without immortal intervention is to uninduct himself.

A character with half a brain would realise that this is not abandoning the ideals of the village. It is for the sake of the village. If Wiglaf wanted to play a character who was too stupid to realise this then that's fine. If his character was intelligent enough to realise that Findlebisk left the village in order to allow someone else to take his place, that's fine too.

One of my nexans got himself uninducted on purpose, and remained on good terms with the cabal, because he still supported the cabal. I suspect that Findlebisk didn't start running around with mages when he left the cabal either.