Fol­low­ing is the full state­ment from op­po­si­tion leader Kei­th Row­ley on the pass­ing of Arthur NR Robin­son, for­mer Pres­i­dent and Prime Min­is­ter of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Our na­tion start­ed its day with the sad news of the pass­ing of one of our most dis­tin­guished cit­i­zens. Arthur Napoleon Ray­mond Robin­son served us with dis­tinc­tion as Trinidad and To­ba­go's third Prime Min­is­ter and sub­se­quent­ly Pres­i­dent.

Mr Robin­son has left a lega­cy of lead­er­ship which has come to im­mor­talise the words "At­tack with full force". Even in the midst of what has be­come known as one of the dark­est pe­ri­ods in our na­tion's his­to­ry, he was res­olute in his role as leader.

Mr Robin­son's love for Trinidad and To­ba­go was apt­ly demon­strat­ed through ser­vice to this twin is­land state and a spe­cial ded­i­ca­tion to To­ba­go.

On be­half of the Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment, in which Mr Robin­son served as Deputy Po­lit­i­cal Leader, I ac­knowl­edge his dis­tin­guished con­tri­bu­tion to this coun­try's de­vel­op­ment and join the rest of the na­tion in mourn­ing his loss. The coun­try has in­deed lost one of its finest cit­i­zens and thus, we are poor­er for it, but so much rich­er for hav­ing him as one of us.