Imelda Ada Okwori, popularly known as Imelda J, is one of the hottest Afro pop singers in the country. She came into the industry six years ago with several singles to her credit. In this interview with VANESSA OKWARA, this sonorous singer reveals Dbanj as her celebrity crush and debunks the romance rumours linking her with former Governor of Benue State, Governor Gabriel Suswan

You mentioned that as a lady you have to give something to move ahead in the industry. Does that mean you are frequently asked for sex by these producers?

Yes, several times I have found myself in such circumstances where they demand for sex. I have to turn it off. I have been to a point of signing an agreement on a record deal and the sponsor showed up and said I must have something to do with him and when I said, No, he said I was difficult to work with and walked out of the meeting. They want your talent and they also want your body. This has been the major challenge. But this is business; you cannot mix pleasure with business.

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When it comes to Nigerian male artistes, who do you admire most?

I love Dbanj a lot. He is my celebrity crush.

Does he know you are crushing on him, have you met him?

Yes, we met at last. We eventually got to meet dramatically in Abuja.

What was his reaction when he got to know you had a crush on him?

The funniest thing was that when we met, he just said I am Miss Endowed indeed. He was lively and I was so happy and the expectation I had about him before now increased. The qualities that attracted him to me were his business sense and his music and I wasn’t disappointed at all.
When we met, we just hit it off and started talking about business immediately. When it comes to business, Dbanj does not play and I think that is what made me to love him more.

Do you hope to have something to do with him in future?

Of course definitely! But music wise anyway. Yes, I have a crush on him but I don’t think I would date him. Oh well! I don’t know, so let’s keep it that way, anything can happen.

I read up some gossip about you dating a former governor of your state, Governor Gabriel Suswan. Is it true or false?

This subject again? I thought I have cleared it up already?

What happened? Why were you linked with him?

He attended my event in my state, Benue, some years back. After my performance on stage, which was very good, he was overwhelmed and said that the last time he watched this kind of performance was in South Africa.

He couldn’t believe that such talent came out from Benue State and at such a tender age. In fact in giving that speech, he took over the microphone from the MC during the launch, did it by himself and stayed to the end of that event and that was all. After that, tongues started wagging.

After the event, there was no other thing between us and I travelled back to Lagos. I have not even had the opportunity to be with him on a personal note. People just kept talking trash that since my father is neither a governor nor commissioner, why would a whole governor do MC at my event.

They just don’t know that these things come with grace, we are spiritual beings. For him to have come to my occasion, it means God is already with me and hard work is paying.

It is not right when someone is trying to come up, people will manufacture gossip to pull them down. If you are female, people will always want to hit on you and pull your morale down but I just have to ignore them and keep strong.