Grammy-winning South African singer Tyla’s team has quietly removed Tyla’s Lagos concert from the itinerary of her APOP World Tour, days after the December date sparked boycott calls from Nigerian fans angered by renewed xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.
A check of the singer’s official tour website on Friday confirmed that the Lagos stop, previously listed for 22 December, no longer appears on the itinerary. The rest of the schedule, spanning Europe, North America and South Africa, remains untouched. Tyla’s Lagos concert had been the only Nigerian date on a tour that closes with shows in Cape Town on 4 January and Johannesburg on 9 January.
Tyla unveiled the tour on Monday. Within hours, Nigerian social media users were pushing back against Tyla’s Lagos concert going ahead at all, citing fresh reports of violence targeting their compatriots in South Africa. Social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, known as VeryDarkMan, urged promoters to shelve the show, arguing it should not proceed while Nigerians were allegedly being attacked and driven out of South Africa. Content creator Solomon Buchi and broadcaster Dotun echoed the call, framing a boycott as a form of protest.
The anger traces back to the death of Chika Ibe, a Nigerian from Lokpaukwu in Abia State, who died on 23 July during a South African Police Service operation at the Parksig Villas Complex in Bellville, Cape Town. Nigerian community groups allege he was beaten and tortured, while South Africa’s Independent Police Investigative Directorate says an initial post-mortem showed bruising and abrasions and has opened an inquiry. Abia State governor Alex Otti has since described the circumstances of Ibe’s death as deeply troubling.
The case is not isolated. Earlier this year, Nigerian national Emeka Charles Iroegbu reportedly died after an interrogation by Tshwane Metro Police officers in Sunnyside, Pretoria, an incident already linked to the alleged killing of another Nigerian, Nnaemeka Mathew Andrew Ekpenyong, in April. Nigerian community organisations say the pattern, rather than isolated wrongdoing, is fuelling the outrage now attached to Tyla’s Lagos concert.
Diplomatic ties have also frayed. President Bola Tinubu declined to receive a South African delegation led by International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola in Abuja on 24 July, a day after Ibe’s death, on the advice of Foreign Affairs Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu. She reportedly argued that Pretoria should first ratify a bilateral early warning mechanism on xenophobic violence signed by both countries in October 2025. Vice President Kashim Shettima, representing Tinubu at an ECOWAS gathering, said Nigeria had evacuated nearly 1,500 citizens affected by the unrest and pledged to press for stronger African Union action.
Not every prominent Nigerian voice backed the push against Tyla’s Lagos concert. Former Kaduna Central senator Shehu Sani said the singer should not be blamed for attacks carried out by South African gangs, noting she had made no anti-Nigerian statements. African Action Congress figure Omoyele Sowore made a similar argument, telling critics to direct their anger at the actual perpetrators rather than a musician, and insisting the show should go on.
Tyla, whose real name is Tyla Laura Seethal, has not commented publicly on the fate of Tyla’s Lagos concert or explained the change to her schedule. Neither she, her management nor the Lagos concert promoters have issued a statement confirming a cancellation, and it remains unclear whether the date will be rescheduled once the controversy eases.
For now, fans who had hoped to attend Tyla’s Lagos concert are left waiting, with the singer’s next confirmed African performances set for South Africa in January, in Cape Town and Johannesburg, cities untouched by the boycott calls that reshaped her itinerary.
