As the diplomatic row deepened, Grammy-award winning South African singer, Tyla, removed Lagos from the list of places she planned to visit.
Tyla had on Monday announced plans to hold a concert in Lagos as part of her world tour itinerary.
The planned stop was expected to be her first headline concert in Nigeria and one of the highlights of the country’s busy “Detty December” season.
However, the announcement of the visit triggered outrage among Nigerians, who criticised her silence in the xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in her country.
Nigerian celebrities and citizens linked the show to ongoing reports of anti-migrant violence in South Africa, including the death of Nigerian national, Chika Ibe, in Cape Town.
Also, social media activist Martins Otse, threatened to mobilise the “Ratel Movement” to physically prevent the concert, declaring, “Tyla’s show will not happen in Nigeria.”
A social media personality, Solomon Buchi, urged his followers to reject the performance, as media personality, Do2dtun, called on the Nigeria Immigration Service to deny Tyla and her team visas.
An online petition seeking to ban Tyla from Nigeria until the xenophobic attacks ceased had gathered thousands of signatures.
But a check on the singer’s official tour website on Friday showed that the December 22 Lagos date had been removed, while dates across Europe, North America, Cape Town and Johannesburg remained on the schedule.
Neither Tyla nor her management issued any public explanation for the change.
The cancellation further fuelled hostility on social media, with many South Africans celebrating her decision.
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