Gboluga Mosugu, a retired Colonel, in this interview with HENRY TYOHEMBA, explains his stream of consciousness that has driven him in his search for perfection through the Project 1520.
I was born just before independence and grew up in Ikare, Ondo State and Zaria, in Kaduna state, I got into the military school in 1973 and passed out in 1978. From there I went to school of basic studies in Zaria and later did Accounting in Kongo campus of ABU and graduated in 1982. Since I was sponsored by the army, I got commissioned into the Nigerian Army Finance Corps and rose to the rank of Colonel and retired voluntarily in 2007. So, I have been out of service for the past 13 years and I have used all those years in writing. I have been writing a dictionary of perfection which is online at www.1520istheideal.com that lists the attributes of every noun word, a perfect model or the ideal version of it. Any word whatsoever, what makes for its ideal version or perfect model. I think it is important for people to know what makes for a perfect or ideal thing. The decision about pursuing perfection is left for the individual but basically, I think and believe that we should know what makes for something to be ideal.
How did you come by this intellectual exercise?
When I was in the army, I had an idea of writing a game on marriage. I wrote a game on marriage and after that the idea to write a game on sex came to me and I wrote a game on sex that is being marketed, though not effectively yet because of the dictionary assignment. After I had written on marriage and sex, another idea came to my mind and I wrote a sequel or follow up to the sex game and in the last five years that I was in the army I was virtually writing continuously and so I couldn’t really give my attention to the main military assignment and I felt it was not quite right so I wrote voluntarily to leave and immediately I left, a thought came to my mind… ‘you have preached on the perfect marriage and you have preached on the perfect sex, why not preach perfection in everything?’ Basically, the idea came in 2017 and I have been writing nonstop since then and I don’t want to stop writing.
What is your understanding of perfection?
Basically, perfection is as defined by many dictionaries but my basic understanding is where there is nothing more to add and nothing at all to take away from a particular thing, then that is perfect. Of course, it must align with a perfect person, that is, God almighty. For example, if it is a negative thing you must look at it from the positive side because God is the only perfect being and He has to be seen from the positive light.
What influenced the marriage and sex games?
When I was in the army I was married and the experience was not very good and I said to myself that the world can benefit from this marriage that didn’t work out perfectly. So the idea came to list the attributes of a perfect marriage and of course you have people who have married who have issues, there are breakups every day, every second somewhere in the world you watch TV, you read newspapers, you listen to radio and you have neighbours whose marriages are facing the rock. So that pushed me to think of writing a game on marriage, and like I said earlier, after the marriage game, the thought occurred to me that one of the main elements in marriage is sex. The idea for the sex game then came and after I left the army the idea of preaching perfection in everything came.
Why 1520?
First of all, some people say 52 is the number of God but I am not an expert in that area so to answer your question directly, in the marriage game and the 1520 sex game when you play them from game A to Z the maximum mark you can score is One thousand five hundred and twenty (1520) points which means that you have made the right decisions from the very beginning of your marriage or the very beginning of the sexual process to the very end. Once you have made a right decision, every time, at the end of the game you must have scored 1520 points that is where 1520 came from. In other words, 1520 means perfect.
Is there any particular formula for playing the game?
A primary school child can play the game, just basically a question and answer session with a sex or marriage counsellor being the person who conducts, regulates and records players’ scores. While each game has its rules, there is no specific formula.
Coming back to the dictionary, you said it is about any noun word and popular phrases you can think of. What do I expect to get if I try a word like Mathematics?
Log on to www.1520istheideal.com and type in Mathematics. All the words connected to mathematics will appear on your screen. You simply click on the particular word to know the perfect elements or ideal model.
What do you hope to achieve with all these?
It is actually like what the preacher in the church or Mosque hopes to achieve. He wants to tell the congregation what makes for a better life or richer existence, or godliness and what makes for perfection because the maker is perfect. So, what can we do to achieve that standard? In truth, even a 100 years old person wants perfection. When my dad and Mum were alive and in their late 90s, if you put your shoe in the wrong place, they simply asked you to place it right. Even a baby who cannot talk will ‘protest’ once the mother removes the milk supply from its mouth because for the baby, the ideal has not been achieved. For the baby, the ideal is fullness or satisfaction. So, I want the world to know the elements that make for the ideal or perfect version or model of any word or phrase.
Is this a combined intellectual/religious exercise?
Perfection is perfection. If for example you are trying to produce furniture, that is not religion. You must think of the raw materials, production processes, quality and so on. So, it depends on what you are looking for. Some of the articles are exclusively religious, such as Moslem, ascension, Hell-gate and so on. So, the work covers religion, romance, art, medicine, military and so on…it covers all disciplines.
What has been the perception of people you come across in this enterprise?
Because it is an imperfect world nobody really wants to listen when you are talking of perfection as lacking perfection benefits them even if it is in the short term. It is like asking people to queue up and expecting that whoever comes first stays in front. However, we know in Nigeria for example, sometimes who arrives last wants to be attended to first. So, they are not going to listen to you when you are preaching perfection. In churches, even if the sermon is “thou shall not steal,” and you keep your phone carelessly, it could be stolen. Similarly, if you go to the Mosque and the Imam is preaching and you leave your designer sandals carelessly outside, you probably won’t meet it on your way out. Yet, the preacher will continue to preach but it is left for you to listen and comply.
Who are your target audience?
The target audience is the over eight billion people on earth. The idea is for people to search for knowledge, especially those who want to know what makes for the right or ideal thing or perfect model because every day people say “let him do the right thing”, “why is he not doing the right thing?” The question is: What is the right thing? The dictionary www.1520istheideal.com will let people know what the right thing is, as much as possible from the human perspective. For as God is perfect, He has given us the cognitive power to know good from bad and right from wrong. So, if we are honest with ourselves, we all know the right thing. At the traffic light for instance, when it shows red it means you should stop but here in Nigeria in fact, if you stop the people behind you will be honking and some could even insult you and that is not right.
Are you making the desired impact?
First of all, the truth is that we have done adverts in the US, UK and in Nigeria. The work will impact only the person who is convinced that he needs to do the right thing. If somebody is a law breaker and doesn’t care about doing the right things, the work will make no meaning to him/her even if you preach till tomorrow. It’s like a criminal who goes to church with an intention to steal a phone, no matter what that preacher says, even if there is CCTV camera in the church, he/she would look for a way to make sure the target is achieved. The impact is being made but very slowly.
Anybody listening to you talk about perfect will think you are too philosophical or idealistic. Is that a proper assessment?
It’s ideas that move the world.
Are people buying into your ideas?
I have a 100 percent belief that someday eventually, they will buy into it because it will get so very bad, they will ask; “why can’t we do the right thing?” When that time comes, they will have to collectively agree among themselves what that right thing is. The work – The 1520 Perfect Dictionary – is already waiting for them; it is just that they are not quite ready.
How can others follow you on this dictionary?
It is online. Anyone could simply log onto www.1520istheideal.com and type any noun word or phrase, read the article and make up your mind whether you want to follow the ideal or you want to remain where you are.
Do you think the world is ready for this kind of message?
The preacher preaches and I see myself as a preacher. It is the simple truth. The preacher, every Friday or Sunday is preaching, hoping that somebody in the congregation will make heaven, so I’m preaching hoping that somebody among the readers will see reason and decide to do what is right.
How do you see yourself, are you being ahead of your time?
I suppose this question is for other people to answer because I probably won’t see myself accurately. On the notion of being ahead of my time; maybe when I’m gone some people will say that. Because when Fela was here most people never thought he was ahead of his time, they thought he was ‘mad’. When Bob Marley was singing those songs, many people thought he must have been high on drugs. Both of these individuals are gone but people are now saying they were ahead of their time.
How do you intend to bring people from the rural areas to participate in this?
Eventually, someday I believe when I would have gone, this work may come out in hard copy. Right now, everything is online because of the volume of the work. The hard copy edition will be so voluminous but someday because like I said, in rural areas, especially in developing countries, you simply print the dictionary; it could be in alphabetical grouping, volumes, editions, etc. So, I think someday it will get there.
Are you alone on this project?
What I’m actually going through is called a “stream of consciousness.” The whole experiences I have been having just before and since I left the army is called a stream of consciousness. It can only be done by one person and I will give you an example. I had asked one or two people to help me write articles on specialised subjects and I kept reminding and appealing to them but they couldn’t write them, for years, because that stream, the urge, that push didn’t occur to them. So, I’m on it alone but that is how it is meant to be.
You did adverts in some papers home and abroad. Did you get any feedback to help you assess the success and failure on the project?
The truth is that here in Nigeria many people are not interested in what pricks their conscience to change their bad old ways. Thus, our adverts in Nigeria which draws attention to the need for people to do the right thing may not attract such interests as to give appropriate feedback. But we will get there. In the US for example when we did an advert in December 2019, there was an incredible increase in the traffic on the site. We also got mails from those asking us to make them our public relations handlers and we are still in talks with them. The situation with the US is that the people are more inquisitive but here our attitude is quite different. We have advertised, we have written articles on Babangida, Obasanjo, Donald Trump, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, published in major newspapers. People read them and one or two called to express worry and I said to them I have not told any lie. When you don’t tell a lie, you don’t bother yourself. I suspect that if Babangida, Obasanjo, Trump, Jonathan, and Buhari had problems with the articles written on them, they would have taken me to court.
Do you have a feeling that you are likely to be misunderstood?
No. I have no such feeling. The simple reason is that the black man generally does not read and everybody knows it. To make matters worse, you are now asking them to read and think. So, I am not afraid of being misunderstood, because those who will read the articles will have adequate and proper understanding.
Is this partly commercial?
It will eventually be commercialised because the card games are ready for the market. Eventually, the 1520 Perfect Dictionary at the website www.1520istheideal.com will attract adverts from visitors but we have to first get it right.
What has sustained you in retirement?
I can give you many answers. A black man will say God sustains us. However, beyond God, I have incomes from little investments and pension. I also have supportive friends. We try to meet our obligations and even help others too. Beyond that, we are trusting our maker because I call the whole of the work “God’s Project”, because it is only God that is perfect. So, I have no fear about sustenance; so far so good.
With all manner of dictionaries, what difference will this one make?
What is perfect law? What is perfect engineering? What is perfect medicine? What is perfect industry? What is perfect… anything? So, this one is about perfection while those ones are specialised, restricted to may be one subject; this one is an ‘umbrella’ for every subject under the sun. So, the difference is that those other dictionaries are limited while the 1520 Perfect Dictionary is boundless. This is why the work is ongoing and I don’t want it to finish. The truth is that I’m having the best time of my life and I will not give it up for anything, except for the Office of President, Federal Republic of Nigeria and this statement is not made lightly.
How do you intend to provoke readers to take up the challenge?
First of all, reading the articles on the site itself, for me, is provocative. You don’t just say that 1520 is the ideal, how do you know it’s the ideal? So, when you think that what you have read is not quite it, you must put on your thinking cap because all the articles were well thought through before being put online. So, it is an ongoing work and we hope to make every article better and ultimately perfect.
So, are you open to criticisms?
Only God cannot be criticized.
In the event you go the way of all mortals, how would this project continue?
Earlier I said I’m experiencing a stream of consciousness so the question is when will the stream stop flowing? We made an attempt at setting up a foundation and we will revive that effort so that even after I am gone, the work will continue to exist. Hopefully, at that point, it will just be basic amendments with fewer and newer additions.
How did this idea occur to you and what are the processes?
The very first time like I said earlier was when my marriage was challenged and I asked myself how the world could benefit from the experience. So, it came to my mind to write a game on marriage. After the marriage game had been written, I then decided to write the sex game. It was after the sex game was written that it occurred to me, after I retired from the army that one can actually preach perfection in every area of life. So, I will somehow say it’s divine because perfection is of God and the world needs to know the elements that make for perfection.
Beyond asking people to read about it, are you making efforts to teach people?
The best teaching you can do is by example. So personally, I try to live what I preach. However, if you are talking in terms of gathering people in an office to lecture them the first thing they will bring out is their cameras to take selfies. They will not even listen to the lecture but you don’t blame them because that is in our DNA here. The idea is for me to live the model or walk the talk because talk is cheap. The question is, what am I doing? I try to live what I preach.
