One of Nigeria’s promising sprinters, Godson Oghenebrume, has been handed a 27-month prison sentence by a United States federal court after he was convicted of illegal possession of a firearm while in the country on a non-immigrant student visa.
Oghenebrume, 23, who resides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was sentenced for possession of a firearm by an alien admitted to the United States under a non-immigrant visa.
The decision was announced by U.S. Attorney Kurt L. Wall in a statement issued by the Department of Justice on June 30, 2026.
Upon completing his prison sentence, the Nigerian sprinter will be deported from the United States.
According to court documents, Oghenebrume admitted during a plea agreement that he possessed a Glock 43X 9mm pistol on February 7, 2025, despite being in the United States on an F-1 student visa.
Prosecutors said the incident stemmed from a domestic dispute involving Oghenebrume, his former girlfriend, who is the mother of his infant child and another woman at his apartment.
Court filings stated that after an argument outside the apartment, Oghenebrume discharged the firearm in the presence of the infant.
The confrontation later escalated, with authorities alleging that he fired multiple shots as his ex-girlfriend fled with the child, leaving bullet holes in the apartment complex.
The sprinter was also accused of damaging his former girlfriend’s mobile phone and briefly taking custody of the infant before the child was safely retrieved by the other woman present.
When deputies from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office arrived, Oghenebrume allegedly ignored commands to stop, walked away from officers and discarded the handgun into nearby shrubs before being taken into custody.
During a post-Miranda interview, Oghenebrume admitted firing the weapon, telling investigators he intended only to frighten his former girlfriend into leaving the premises.
The investigation was led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, while Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeremy S. Johnson and Lyman E. Thornton III prosecuted the case.
The sentence marks a dramatic fall for the Nigerian sprinter, whose athletics career has now been overshadowed by his criminal conviction and impending deportation from the United States.
