On July 1, 2017, the then-senior reporter for Pulse Nigeria Fu’ad Lawal embarked on a road trip that saw him travel through all 36 states in the country. Given the choice of transportation, it seemed like a herculean task, an ambitious project to highlight the peculiarities and cultures of these people who are indigenouis to these states over a 80-day period. On a profile story for Pulse Nigeria, Fu’ad suggests he had actually planned to go to the Yankari Game Reserve in Bauchi, then came the spontaneous impulse to do the entire country. But Fu’ad didn’t have the means to fund this passion project, and he pitched the idea to Osagie Alonge, Editor-in-Chief Pulse Nigeria.

Kicking off from Lagos, and accompanied by a cameraman named Chris, Lawal documented his state-wide travels and experience on social media, particularly on @PulseNigeriaTravel, feeding the account with exciting pictures and videos. He visited the grave of Queen Sheba in Ijebu, Ogun, the famous Idanre Hills in Ondo, the Mungo Park House in Benin, and the famous Oguta Lake in Imo, to name a few of the destination spots. We even commended Lawal and Pulse Nigeria for the initiative. For his troubles, he was promoted to Creative Strategist for the news and entertainment platform. However, award-winning journalist and writer and new head honcho at the West African office of the African Report, Eromo Egbejule called out Pulse Nigeria on Sunday as Social Media Week Lagos 2018 kicked off on Monday.

The Pulse-organised evening session with the topic The Evolution of Native Advertising: A Case Study of Pulse 36 featured speakers like Tunde Kara, Segun Adekoye, Folahan Abudu, Dami Khadijah, and Opeyemi Lawal on the banner but Fu’ad Lawal’s name was excluded. And Egbejule directed this observation to the news outlet on Twitter, ending his tweet with, “are you telling a story without the storytellers?

Wait, wasn’t Pulse 36 the story of two or three guys going around Nigeria and telling stories? Or am I wrong? I don’t see Fuad or his team here.

Dear @PulseNigeria247, are you telling a story without the storytellers? pic.twitter.com/oDdIUew61c

— Eromo Egbejule (@EromoEgbejule) February 24, 2018

Osagie Alonge replied to Eromo’s tweet directly with this.

Hi Eromo,
– Context matters with everything.
– Let’s not gaslight.

Here’s the full breakdown of the event. https://t.co/nkqQYMCyiM

Happy to let you know Fu’ad who recently got promoted to Creative Strategist will make a special appearance. Please attend ? https://t.co/5eAGIZCHpG

— Osagie Alonge (@OsaGz) February 25, 2018

Which led to this exchange.

Yeah context matters. Great to hear about the special appearance, even if it does seem like an afterthought (after the banner design). https://t.co/e0IbE0BpcW

— Eromo Egbejule (@EromoEgbejule) February 25, 2018

You’re clearly clueless about this Eromo. If you need clearer context, you can always reach me privately. Thanks. https://t.co/xxIkmggEz9

— Osagie Alonge (@OsaGz) February 25, 2018

Prefer to stay clueless rather than understand how storytellers are relegated to making special appearances at panels discussing ideas they thought up, implemented & most likely made revenue for your company? Is this what you’d have done to Arit & I if we let you fund our doc? https://t.co/1ywKcLHHfL

— Eromo Egbejule (@EromoEgbejule) February 25, 2018

I’m inclined to  agree with Egbejule. The Pulse 36 travel project is a clever native advertising spawned from the collaborative efforts between Fu’ad and Pulse Nigeria. Each picture and video posted to the Pulse travel account were embedded with #MoveWithAccess and #SamsungS8PlusNG, hashtags coined to plug in the brand presence of Access Bank and Samsung. On the account on Instagram, there’s an underwater photo of Fu’ad holding a Samsung S8 Plus device, a phone that boasts qualities like water resistance. To talk about native advertising in this way without having Fu’ad on the Pulse panel at Social Media Week is questionable.

Osagie Alonge, while I found his responses to Egbejule patronising, tweeted that Fu’ad will make a special appearance, you know, hover down from the ceiling of the hall in a puff of smoke and special effects. Though I can’t shake the feeling that Fu’ad wasn’t planned into the panel, it’s nice to know Fu’ad made an appearance. And about who won in the Fu’ad Wars? I think I’m calling it a draw.