@Chefkobs Lol Pele, I just got one 46 and it's tight but God knows I must wear it at least for two weeks by force before giving it out.
It's tiring cuz I literally have to wear shoes always.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was born in Athens, and the Greek state registered him as a citizen of nowhere.
Not Greek. Not Nigerian. Stateless, on the municipal register, from birth.
He stayed that way for eighteen years.
Tonight he makes his debut for the Miami Heat.
Greek citizenship passes by blood, not by birthplace. His parents came from Lagos in 1991 and had no papers. So their son, born in the Sepolia neighborhood of Athens, belonged to no country on earth.
Angelos Syrigos is the Interior Ministry official who handled the file. Here is how he describes it.
They "had been registered as stateless in the municipal register."
His school leaving diploma recorded his nationality as Foreigner. He could not leave the country, which meant NBA scouts could not watch him play anywhere but Greece.
Here is how he describes that.
"We didn't have the opportunity to be who we were destined to be, because we didn't have the piece of paper."
"They couldn't deport me. But they could deport my parents."
"So we were afraid as kids that one day we could wake up without our parents."
Sean Gregory at TIME is the one who got him to say that.
Now here is the part almost nobody tells.
In 2013 the NBA started calling, and so did somebody else. The Nigerian embassy in Athens offered to issue him a Nigerian passport, so he could get an American visa and go to the draft.
Greece moved in seven weeks.
Here is what the Greek Interior Ministry said about it afterward.
The state's "only intervention was to accelerate the procedures."
He became a Greek citizen on May 9th. Milwaukee drafted him on June 27th. Forty nine days.
A country that had him on file as belonging to nobody made him one of its own in seven weeks, once another country wanted him first.
Then America said no. Twice. His brother Kostas has described it.
"We were denied twice and if you are denied the third time, you have to wait like 10 years."
So he played half of his first season alone. His parents and younger brothers finally landed in Chicago in February 2014.
"I don't have to worry about nothing anymore. Not what I'm going to eat, not what I'm going to wear, nothing."
Here is the part that says the most.
His mother Veronica arrived in Athens in 1991. She did not become a Greek citizen until September 2021.
Thirty years. Two months after her son won the Finals.
He is one of the wealthiest athletes alive now, and Greece has since given him every honor it has. Plenty of stateless children never get a basketball career to force the question.
But they had him down as nobody's for eighteen years, and it took another country's offer to change it.
Tonight he plays in Miami.
Pou chèf gang yo ak manm gang yo k ap kenbe kat konpatriyòt nou yo an otaj ann Ayiti:
Mesye nou kidnape yo pa konbatan. Yo se teknisyen nan domèn avyasyon ki fè pati misyon nou ann Ayiti, nan kad yon misyon entènasyonal. Misyon nou an gen sèlman pilòt ak pèsonèl teknik, ki gen kòm travay prensipal fè evakyasyon medikal epi sove lavi moun, pa fè lagè.
Men, nou te kidnape yo yon fason lach pandan yo t ap retounen apre yo te fin achte manje nan yon makèt nan zòn nan.
Se poutèt sa, jodi a nou te lanse yon operasyon militè pou pote yo sekou. Nou gen yon sèl objektif: fè kat konpatriyòt nou yo retounen lakay yo vivan, san okenn mal.
Men, mwen vle pou nou menm, chèf gang yo, konprann yon bagay byen klè: atak jodi a pa anyen devan sa k ap vini si nou pa remèt toule kat otaj yo vivan.
Epi pa pran pawòl nou yo pou menas san fondman. Nou deja fini ak gang yo nan El Salvador, e nou kapab fini ak nou tou.
Nou toujou gen tan pou evite sa.
Remèt nou kat konpatriyòt nou yo vivan, san okenn mal, epi tout bagay ap retounen jan sa te ye anvan kidnaping lan.
Desizyon an nan men nou.
A woman who knows I use moniepoint POS machines in my business came to me yesterday.
She noticed N264k was withdrawn from her POS.
I dug into her account and realized the money was moved out with an ATM card.
I asked her who she gave her POS ATM and she said she doesn't have any ATM card.
I dug deeper and found that the same ATM card has been used to steadily withdraw little sums like 10k, 12k, 7k etc all summing up to about N483k.
While still digging another N5100 was withdrawn again and we traced the POS point to a nearby Opay agent.
It turns out her husband had activated an ATM card on her account unknown to her and with that he has been withdrawing steadily from her business money for 2 months now
This man is an assistant Pastor in RCCG for that matter.