On 30 March 2026, a funeral for John O took place at Yardley Cemetery and Crematorium in Birmingham. John O was the original coordinator of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, as Right to Remain was known until 2014. In 1998, John officially changed his surname to “O” by deed poll in solidarity with those seeking asylum in Britain. He passed away in February this year, at the age of 82. 

The National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, affectionately known as NCADC, was founded in 1995, and John O was appointed as its first coordinator, a role he held until 2010. He continued to lead the campaign group No Deportations – Residence Papers for All after his time at NCADC. He was also the founder of  Miscarriages of Justice UK (MOJUK), campaigning against a miscarriage of justice. You can read more about John O’s life on this tribute page compiled by the National Union of Journalists. 

John O recorded the beginning of NCADC in one of the documents he left behind in our archive. On 3rd June 1995, the founding conference of NCADC took place at Hackney Downs Baptist Church in London, not very far from where the current Right to Remain office is. The conference was attended by 25 anti-deportation campaign groups from all over the UK. At the time, Sunday Ogunwobi and his family were seeking sanctuary in the church, fighting against their deportation to Nigeria (there is a brilliant write-up of the campaign by Hackney Museum here). The family was granted their right to remain when the New Labour government came into power in 1997.  

We understand that, originally, NCADC had office space in the Asian Resource Centre in Handsworth, but everything soon moved to John’s home in Lozells and he worked from there. At its beginning, NCADC had a simple but powerful set-up, led by John O.  ‘No wages at that time, based in Birmingham. No office equipment/no computers. Phone advice would be available 24/7/365’. 

Known for his fiery and rigorous bulletins exposing the latest atrocities committed by the UK immigration enforcement that were wrecking the lives of refugees, migrants and their community, John O was a pioneering figure in our fight against immigration detention and deportations. Hundreds of people were helped and supported in their most painful moments by John’s activism and wisdom, and by the solidarity of others who dedicated themselves to anti-deportation campaigns. 

Romain Ngouabeu, former NCADC chair, said:

It is so sad and painful to hear the passing away of John O.

I do not remember how I encountered the NCADC mailing list, perhaps because I am a migrant? For sure, I can remember that over 24 hours, 7 days a week, there were people who dedicated their life and times to fight against injustice, to create a country where no one is called “stranger”.

Yes, the word “STRANGER” sounded inappropriate to John O’ as he believed that “everyone” is home in the UK. As a matter-of-fact, John O’ boycotted certain campaigner calling for “qualified migrants” to be granted leave to remain in the UK. He found this to be very discriminatory and commented that “the campaign was only for British interest”.

John O’ and the NCADC were the voice of those who were crying, and nobody could hear. They were voice of children taken from their beds, handcuffed and moved to detention centres with their parents’ pending deportation. John O’ and the NCADC were the only hope when everything had failed. John O’ and the NCADC were the only treatment for those migrants who will suffer mental distress, physical and psychological abuse, malnourishment in the hands of an immigration system in a country where human rights are protected.

I decided to join the NCADC management committee and worked with John O’ for more over 5 years. I met a man whose ambition, engagement, dedication and desire to fight against injustice was not to be debated. His engagement and dedication to stop deportation was at the centre of his interest. He took all cases, looked for solicitors, advised on how to fight cases when no legal representative was available.

The NCADC, with only two staff covered the overall UK and the success in stopping deportation was remarkable. John O’ later left the NCADC but continued with his fights in a different organisation.

I am very sad and sorry to hear that he has gone to rest, without accomplishing his mission to create a fair British society where everyone feels home. Nevertheless, I am convinced that he opened our eyes in a different way to view our society, to promote equality, inclusion and to stop any form of discrimination. John O’ legacy will mark many generations and will never be forgotten. May his soul find a perfect peace.

Bill MacKeith, NUJ Oxford branch, who served on the NCADC Management Committee said:

John was absolutely central in the growth of the West Midlands Anti Deportation Campaign into the National Coalition of Anti Deportation Campaigns (NCADC, now Right To Remain). For some 15 years under his leadership (though he would definitely not call it that) the NCADC daily provided practical and personal support to individuals facing deportation, supporting them to speak out for their rights. It produced national bulletins, and helped to build a national movement against detention and deportation. Many people now active in this movement spent time working for the NCADC.

There is another document in our archive, entitled ‘June 1995 to July 2006 – 135 successful Anti-Deportation Campaigns Supported by NCADC’. The list must have been compiled by John O himself (somehow we always called him ‘John O’, never ‘John’). It contains the names of individuals and families from all over the UK, including Middlesbrough, Manchester, Bedford, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leicester, Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Cornwall, Bury, Glasgow, Lancaster, Oxford, Nottingham, Coventry, Bristol, Southampton, Oldham, Stockport, Liverpool, Darlington, Bradford, Portsmouth, Norwich, Redcar, Leamington Spa, Stoke, Penzance, and London. 

I never met John O in person, but the influence of reading his NCADC bulletins on me cannot be overstated. They opened my eyes to the darkest corners of the UK asylum and immigration system – detention and deportation – which few people around me, even those working in the refugee and migration sector, were willing to discuss.

During my first days volunteering at a busy national refugee charity almost 25 years ago, I saw a whiteboard in the office listing the names of people waiting to see caseworkers that day. We would consult the whiteboard to see who was next to be assisted, go to the waiting area full of extremely distressed people to find them, and then cross their name off the board once we had finished helping them – or at least, after we had made an attempt to help them. It was such an overwhelming environment of chaos and confusion, that to be honest, I am not sure how much help we were to them.

In the top right-hand corner of the whiteboard was another list of names that were never crossed out. They looked like they were left there for a long time, forgotten. I asked the manager who these people were. And the reply came. ‘Oh, they are in detention, waiting for deportation. There is nothing we can do for them, but they call us, so we keep their names there.’

I couldn’t let that go unchallenged – what do you mean ‘there is nothing we can do for them’? I needed to find who these people were. I came across the NCADC bulletins (I think one of my fellow volunteers told me about it) and that led me to start visiting people at Harmondsworth detention centre next to the Heathrow Airport runways. That experience shaped everything I have done since. I can’t be the only person who was compelled to jump into the migration justice movement because of John O’s NCADC bulletins.

The fight to secure people’s right to remain remains at the core of Right to Remain. I joined Right to Remain because its origin is the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns and because it still carries the same spirit. John O made an observation in one of his reports that as numbers of deportations and detentions and the reputation of NCADC grew, more and more people requested guidance on navigating the asylum and immigration legal system – foretelling the need for the Toolkit, which came into existence after John O left. As John O was to many who phoned the NCADC phoneline, the Toolkit continues to help people who are stuck in the Kafkaesque asylum and immigration system to exercise their rights and access justice.

We thank John O, his colleagues, local campaigners, supporters, and, of course, those who fought to stop their own deportations for showing us the way. We hold on to their power and hope for justice as we continue our work today, and as we continue to assert migration is life, no one is illegal, these walls must fall.

Rest in power, John O.

Eiri Ohtani, Director at Right to Remain