One of the dominant topics of conversation in Nigerian politics last week were the excerpts from the newly-released book by journalist and former presidential spokesman, Olusegun Adeniyi, “Against the Run of Play”, which is about the 2015 elections which an incumbent president lost for the first time in Nigeria.

In one of the excerpts, Adeniyi wrote about how former President Goodluck Jonathan attributed his loss to a desire for a change in government by the American, British and French governments, betrayal by the then chairmen of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega and his party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, Ahmadu Mu’azu.

It didn’t take long before President Jonathan issued a statement in which he said that the book contained many distorted claims by respondents, and promised that at the right time, he will publish his own account of the events that transpired.

Expectedly, his statement added fuel to the conversation, with many praising him and quite many others asking that he should not attempt to engage in revisionism over what they see as the disastrous period he was President.

This has become almost the default reactions whenever the former President speaks about his period in office and his achievements. It is without doubt that the 2015 elections, two years after, still remains a hot-button topic in Nigeria.

However, those that are of the opinion that Jonathan should stay away from making public statements on his time in government and should not write a memoir miss the fact that a memoir will be written for the benefit of all Nigerians, irrespective of how they feel about him.

There is a poor culture of recording of events in Nigeria, particularly by the actors involved. Many a former top government official have gone to their graves without writing for posterity’s sake what really happened during their time. There are still many that are alive and seem unwilling to write about events – for example, General Yakubu Gowon, who led Nigeria during the civil war is yet to pen a single book of his version of events in that important period in our nationhood.

As a result, a lot of our contemporary history is being lost, and ends up as oral history, unconfirmed stories and urban legends.

It does not matter if Jonathan writes his memoirs in which he paints a rosier picture of his government than we remember or actually transpired. As a matter of fact, that much should be expected because it is in human nature to make ourselves look better than we are.

What matters is that there is a recording of history over a period from one of the principal actors, which will give us more knowledge and perspective of what actually happened. The more sides to a story are heard, the greater the chances of having a balanced understanding of the event.

We hope that President Jonathan’s memoirs will contribute to the building up of a culture of politicians putting down their experiences for the sake of history and generations to come.