South African Grammy winning singer Tyla has removed Lagos from the schedule of her APOP World Tour, days after her planned December 22, 2026, concert in Nigeria sparked calls for a boycott over renewed xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in South Africa.
A check on the singer’s official tour website on Friday, July 31, 2026, showed that the Lagos concert had been removed from the itinerary.
The updated schedule retains previously announced performances across Europe, North America and South Africa but no longer includes Nigeria.
The APOP World Tour was unveiled on Monday, July 27, 2026, with Lagos initially listed as the only Nigerian stop. The tour is scheduled to conclude with performances in Cape Town on January 4, 2027, and Johannesburg on January 9, 2027.
The announcement triggered mixed reactions on social media, with some Nigerians calling for a boycott of the concert in protest against renewed xenophobic attacks on Nigerians living in South Africa.
While some argued that no South African artiste should perform in Nigeria as long as attacks on Nigerians persist, others maintained that entertainers should not be held responsible for political or social issues.
The controversy intensified on Thursday, July 30, 2026, after activist Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, threatened to mobilise members of his Ratel Movement to stop the concert if it went ahead.
In a post on Facebook, Otse declared that the concert would not hold in Nigeria, saying the campaign was intended to show solidarity with victims of xenophobic attacks and to protest the silence of some South African celebrities over the violence.
However, the 2027 African Action Congress presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, opposed the boycott campaign, arguing that Tyla should not be blamed for xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
Sowore urged Nigerians to direct their anger at those responsible for the attacks rather than the singer, insisting that her planned Lagos concert should go ahead.
The removal of Lagos from the tour schedule comes amid renewed concerns over the treatment of Nigerians in South Africa following reports of alleged xenophobic attacks and the deaths of Nigerian nationals, including Chika Ibe in Cape Town.
As of the time of filing this report, neither Tyla nor her management had explained why the Lagos concert was removed from the tour schedule.
The concert promoters had also not announced whether the show had been cancelled or postponed.
