Non Ministers and secretarial staff were asked to leave the Federal Executive Council (FEC) chambers when passion and anger boiled over.
Sources at the FEC meeting narrated that the fracas started when the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, told his colleagues that the resolution by the National Assembly (NASS) making Jonathan Acting President and its acceptance by the FEC ought to have doused tension in the country.
He regretted that the contrary is the case.
Maduekwe was quoted as having urged the FEC to invoke the spirit and letter of Section 144 to calm frayed nerves in the land.
But Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Adamu Aliero, rose sharply to counter him, arguing that there is no need to invoke Section 144.
Aliero reportedly added that while it is true that Yar'Adua is sick, "It is also true that he is responding to treatment and will soon return. So, why must he be declared incapacitated?"
In the back and forth, Solid Minerals Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, aligned herself with the memo written on February 3 by Information and Communications Minister, Dora Akunyili, and argued that it is necessary for the FEC to do the needful.
Allison-Madueke was, in turn, countered by Minister of State for Education, Aisha Dikku, who agreed with Aliero that there is no need to invoke Section 144 in dealing with Yar'Adua's absence since Jonathan now acts as President.
Daily Independent learnt that the attempt to find a middle course - when the division was getting dangerously sharper - led to an agreement that a delegation be sent to Saudi Arabia.
The FEC finally caved in under public pressure to send such a delegation to determine the health of Yar'Adua, who has been hospitalised in Saudi Arabia since November 23 last year - 86 days ago.
On the entourage are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed; Ministers Adetokunbo Kayode (Attorney General), Rilwanu Lukman (Petroleum), Abba Ruma (Agriculture and Water Resources), Babatunde Oshotimehin (Health), and Maduekwe.
Jonathan, who chaired the FEC meeting, also scheduled a parley this week with Lukman and two other Ministers, Sarafa Isola (Mines and Steel) and Rilwan Babalola (Power), to devise ways of generating power from coal within two years.
A FEC resolution read out to the press by Akunyili said the team of six members would "go to Saudi Arabia to visit (Yar'Adua) and his family.
"The team will also convey a formal appreciation of the country to the king of Saudi Arabia."
It was a unanimous decision by the cabinet, she added, and the delegation will jet out "as soon as travelling visas are procured, and that could be as early as today (Wednesday)."
Another source said the FEC agreed that a formal letter be written to the Saudi monarch to thank him for his "hospitality and generosity."
The letter was informed by "the fact that the king is footing the bill of Yar'Adua's hospitalisation. The Nigerian Government is not picking the bill. It is entirely borne by the Saudi authorities.
"So, the FEC decided that the country should write and appreciate the generosity of the monarch."
Pressure has been mounting within and outside the cabinet for the FEC to declare him incapacitated, in line with Section 144 of the Constitution, after several failed attempts to get across to him or confirm that he is recovering from illness.
The rift in the FEC blew open on February 3 when Akunyili tried to table a memo seeking to debate Yar'Adua's health and to send the findings to the NASS to enable Jonathan act as President.
Her memo was stoutly resisted by Ministers loyal to Yar'Adua, but Jonathan has since been made Acting President by the NASS, based on intense public pressure.
Nonetheless, Yar'Adua's incapacitation continues to create tension in the cabinet.
It was learnt that the decision to send a team to Saudi Arabia was preceded by attempts by some Ministers to step down any discussion of his ill health at all by the FEC.
Besides, there was no success for those who want Yar'Adua declared temporarily incapacitated without visiting him to confirm his health condition.
A mid way course was arrived at to raise the team, which includes some of Yar'Adua's known loyalists.
Before now, Governors and members of the House of Representatives had sent delegations to see Yar'Adua in Saudi Arabia but were denied access to him.
The last delegation sent, that of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by PDP Chairman, Vincent Ogbulafor, was also prevented from seeing him.
The failure of the Ogbulafor team to get access to him dampened the zeal of the Yar'Adua camp which thought news of his recovery would come out of that visit to strengthen its campaign.
It is not certain that the cabinet delegation will have access to him.
Yet, on Wednesday the PDP youth wing reminded Jonathan that his elevation is to fill the vacuum created by the absence of Yar'Adua, to whom the administration belongs.
Youth Vanguard National Secretary, Ibrahim Aboki, who made the point at a press conference in Abuja, also differed from the position of the PDP national leadership that there was no vacuum in Aso Rock before Jonathan became Acting President on February 9.
PDP Director of Youth Affairs, Uche Igwe, agreed with the submission that Yar'Adua's tenure continues under Jonathan.
Aboki said it is an aberration for a country like Nigeria to have a leadership vacuum, and the decision by the legislature to make Jonathan Acting President is a right one, which warded off chaos.
He, however, emphasised that the government being run by Jonathan does not belong to him but to Yar'Adua, who is expected back soon to continue in office.