Tyla Drops Lagos From World Tour Schedule Amid Boycott Calls

South African singer Tyla has removed Lagos from the itinerary of her A*POP World Tour, following days of boycott calls from Nigerians angered by the recent death of a Nigerian national in South African police custody. Checks on Friday show that the December 22 Lagos date, which had previously appeared on the tour’s promotional flier, no longer features among the singer’s listed performances.

Neither Tyla nor her management has issued a statement explaining the change. The Grammy-winning artiste did not publicly address the controversy before the Lagos date was removed from the schedule.

The tour, spanning 29 cities, is scheduled to begin in Paris on 12 October before moving through Europe and North America, with Lagos originally billed as its only Nigerian stop. Despite the cancellation, Tyla is still billed to conclude the tour with performances in Cape Town and Johannesburg in January.

The boycott campaign gathered pace after the death of Chika Ibe, a Nigerian national from Lokpaukwu in Abia State. According to multiple Nigerian community accounts, Ibe died on Thursday, 23 July 2026, during a South African Police Service operation at the Parksig Villas Complex in Bellville, Cape Town. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate said preliminary post-mortem findings showed the 42-year-old had sustained multiple bruises and abrasions, while Western Cape police maintained he became unwell during his arrest. The circumstances of his death remain under investigation, and no officer has been charged.

Content creators including Solomon Buchi and OAP Dotun led calls online for Nigerians to boycott Tyla’s Lagos show, citing what they described as her silence on xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in South Africa. The campaign divided opinion. Human rights activist Omoyele Sowore opposed the boycott, arguing that responsibility for addressing xenophobia rests with political leaders rather than entertainers, while other Nigerians on social media backed the calls as a symbolic protest.

The dispute has also touched diplomatic relations between both countries. President Bola Tinubu reportedly declined to receive a South African delegation, led by the country’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, days after Ibe’s death, according to diplomatic sources.