NARA, Japan (AP) — Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a divisive arch-conservative and one of his nation's most powerful and influential figures, has died after being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, hospital officials said.

Abe, 67, was shot from behind minutes after he started his speech in Nara. He was airlifted to a hospital for emergency treatment but was not breathing and his heart had stopped. He was later pronounced dead despite emergency treatment that included massive blood transfusions, hospital officials said.

Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene of an attack that shocked many in Japan, which is one of the world’s safest nations and has some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Cabinet ministers hastily returned to Tokyo from campaign events around the country after the shooting, which he called “dastardly and barbaric." He pledged to carry out Sunday's parliamentary elections as planned.

Nara Medical University emergency department chief Hidetada Fukushima said Abe suffered major damage to his heart in addition to two neck wounds that damaged an artery, causing extensive bleeding. He was in a state of cardio and pulmonary arrest when he arrived at the hospital and never regained his vital signs, Fukushima said.

Abe was Japan’s longest-serving leader before stepping down in 2020.

Public television NHK aired a dramatic video of Abe giving a speech outside a train station in the western city of Nara. He is standing, dressed in a navy blue suit, raising his fist, when two gunshots are heard. The video then shows Abe collapsed on the street, with security guards running toward him. He holds his chest, his shirt smeared with blood.

In the next moment, security guards leap on top of a man in gray shirt who lies face down on the pavement. A double-barreled device that appeared to be a handmade gun is seen on the ground.

Nara prefectural police confirmed the arrest of Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, on suspicion of attempted murder. They said an explosives team raided the suspect’s home to gather evidence. NHK reported that the suspect served in Japan's navy for three years in the 2000s and that he said he wanted to kill Abe because he had complaints that were not related to political views.

Other videos from the scene showed campaign officials surrounding Abe. The former leader was still highly influential in the governing Liberal Democratic Party and headed its largest faction, Seiwakai. Elections for Japan's upper house, the less powerful chamber of its parliament, are Sunday.

“I use the harshest words to condemn (the act),” Kishida said as he struggled to control his emotions. He said the government planned to review the security situation, but added that Abe had the highest protection.

Opposition leaders condemned the attack as a challenge to Japan’s democracy. In Tokyo, people stopped on the street to grab extra editions of newspapers or watch TV coverage of the shooting.

When he resigned as prime minister, Abe said he had a recurrence of the ulcerative colitis he'd had since he was a teenager.

He told reporters at the time that it was “gut wrenching” to leave many of his goals unfinished. He spoke of his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese abducted years ago by North Korea, a territorial dispute with Russia and a revision of Japan’s war-renouncing constitution.

That last goal was a big reason he was such a divisive figure.

His ultra-nationalism riled the Koreas and China, and his push to create what he saw as a more normal defense posture angered many Japanese. Abe failed to achieve his cherished goal of formally rewriting the U.S.-drafted pacifist constitution because of poor public support.

Loyalists said that his legacy was a stronger U.S.-Japan relationship that was meant to bolster Japan’s defense capability. But Abe made enemies by forcing his defense goals and other contentious issues through parliament, despite strong public opposition.

Abe was a political blue blood who was groomed to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. His political rhetoric often focused on making Japan a “normal” and “beautiful” nation with a stronger military and bigger role in international affairs.

Many foreign officials expressed shock over the shooting.

Abe said he was proud of working while leader for a stronger Japan-U.S. security alliance and shepherding the first visit by a serving U.S. president to the atom-bombed city of Hiroshima. He also helped Tokyo gain the right to host the 2020 Olympics by pledging that a disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant was “under control” when it was not.

Abe became Japan’s youngest prime minister in 2006, at age 52, but his overly nationalistic first stint abruptly ended a year later, also because of his health.

The end of Abe’s scandal-laden first stint as prime minister was the beginning of six years of annual leadership change, remembered as an era of “revolving door” politics that lacked stability and long-term policies.

When he returned to office in 2012, Abe vowed to revitalize the nation and get its economy out of its deflationary doldrums with his “Abenomics” formula, which combines fiscal stimulus, monetary easing and structural reforms.

He won six national elections and built a rock-solid grip on power, bolstering Japan’s defense role and capability and its security alliance with the U.S. He also stepped up patriotic education at schools and raised Japan’s international profile.

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Yamaguchi and Klug reported from Tokyo.
https://news.yahoo.com/japan-ex-leader-abe-reportedly-031004756.html

good one . unification

ok

Jesus Christ will save Arsenal FC

i done get alert Godwin

Npower: Payment Alert dropped in Today

its well with liers

lol

lol

nice

One candidate went to Ekiti to campaign. He told them in Ekiti to thumb print first before collecting money. ‘No thumb printing, no money’ he said.

Another candidate decided to go to Egypt with his own money for 3 days, to find out how Egypt, which used to struggle with power generation in a mostly desert land, suddenly overcame their challenge, and turned it into a huge opportunity.

Do you know the candidate that people are praising for doing a good job?

The one that went to tell their people to vote first before collecting money.

One has a vision for a better Nigeria and went ahead on his own to find out.

You now see how this man Peter Obi became so good with numbers and facts and figures when he is mentioning or quoting numbers. He does his home work well.

Now when they are doing presidential debates, and he is quoting factual numbers about Egypt power generation, they will think he is just pulling numbers from the air.

Obi knows his work. He doesn’t wait for special assistants to do his job for him. He doesn’t wait for some people to be googling Wikipedia for him. He goes to China, Bangladesh, India, South Africa, Brazil, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and etc.

He looks for countries that have similar challenges to that of Nigeria and he investigates on his own so he could bring home what could be useful for us.

Some people will be carrying brooms and umbrella kaakiri aiye looking for who to induce with money for their votes.

Naija, you are on your last chance.

Some old people will die in that country within the next 8 years. The person in charge of the country really matters. That person will determine if for once, those to die will see good governance for once in their life time or not.

hmm

local man is flabbergasted

good. i love this move

wahala

wahala no dey finish

ok

awesome

cone head

local man is lafing out loud e get why

Prophet of doom , you are hallucinating , you need some hibernation to cool off

Lionnation:
I see ethnic and religion crises resume in the north ones power shift to south, I see the blood of christians especially the Igbo being spilt. If you are a southerner residing north start making plans to relocate immidiately a southerner wins the presidency. To be forewarned is the be forearmed

na waoo

nwa oo they want to still milk the country

he used his last card cash to buy the form. see how 100M vanished like lotto

chai wahala for who want to jet out to any state. flight fee sky rocketing

hmm politicians protecting themselves

Seems a "deep freeze" kind of app is installed on your system.
thats how the app works.
one of your bad ass friend have done it again for you with out your knowing.

might not be virus

lol

Antoeni:
Are you coming from Abuja to Owerri this Xmas?

Don't go and waste your 18k on direct transport.

Follow this Apia-way

Abuja - Okene 2k
Okene - Onitsha 2500
Onitsha - Control Owerri 1k

Total spent = 5500.

Lagos - Owerri
DO NOT PAY 18k

Lagos - Benin 3k
Benin - Onitsha #1500
Onitsha - Owerri 1k

Total = 5500

Then you buy me bread while coming

Ije ọma! Ije awele!!

Thank me later lol

This Guy is a Badooo. I have actually use this route and it's a spot on
it worked like charm and the time difference is almost the same or 1 hour interval.
after all even the other transporters no dey ON Air condition again.
use his advice and get pay cut on your travels.

nice tips

chaii