Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential Villa, to discuss his recent international engagements and to offer his opinion on the ongoing crisis in the Niger Delta.

Speaking to state house correspondents, Jonathan said that he was strongly against the disintegration of Nigeria, adding that he was working with other leaders to find solutions to the renewed militancy in the oil-rich region.

“I came to brief the president about some of my engagements. As you are aware I will be leading the AU elections monitoring team to Zambia, I came to brief the president about some of this external engagement. It is the tradition,” he said.

On the agitations for cessation in various parts of the country, the former president said Nigeria was only termed “great” because of its size and diversity and not necessarily because of its oil.

“Those of you that have followed my talks when I was here, my emphasis is that we need a united Nigeria and I always emphasize that Nigeria is great not just about the oil – so many countries produce more oil than Nigeria nobody notices them.

“We are great because of our size, the human resources we have, the diversity we have, if we fragment the country into small components we will be forgotten by the world.”

It would be recalled that a new group in the Niger Delta, named “Adaka Boro Avengers” had threatened to declare an independent Niger Delta Republic on Monday, August 1, but later said it had to call off the plan due to interventions from ex-president Jonathan and other leaders in the region.

Jonathan said, “It’s not just about me but about all the traditional rulers, elders and opinion leaders that are of the Ijaw ethnic nationality; we have been in touch to see that peace reigns in the country,

“That has been my focal position and without peace, there cannot be development anywhere in the world.

“We are all working collectively to see that issues are resolved,” the former president said.

He however would not speak on the ongoing anti-corruption drive that have seen many of his appointees and former aides arrested and undergoing trial by the EFCC.

“I don’t want to talk about that one because there are too many cases that are in court, it will not be fair to make comments, I will talk at the appropriate time when most of these things are resolved,” he said.