Luqman Onikosi faces certain death if sent back to Nigeria. Jake Wood reports on a student occupation in Brighton opposing his potential deportation

Students at the University of Sussex have gone into occupation to pressure the University to oppose the deportation of Luqman Onikosi, a student from Nigeria who suffers from hepatitis. He relies on treatment from the NHS here in the UK, and if the deportation go’s ahead, he will almost certainly die.

The occupation in Brighton has begun within a day of the Court Order to remove occupiers in the the University of Sheffield, who sat in as a protest against tuition fees.

Those who want to live in a better society must support university occupations! As Universities become more like businesses, it is inevitable that they will become less and less sympathetic to basic calls to stand up for human needs, like the call to oppose the deportation of Luqman. This makes direct action necessary. Disrupting the day to day business of the University forces the establishments to acknowledge the pressing issues which students are fighting against, whether it be racist attacks on multiculturalism via deportations, or the burden of student debt.

The occupiers at the university of Sussex say they will stay in occupation for as long as it takes for the university to meet their demand of officially opposing the Home Office decision to deport Luqman Onikosi.