Abdullah Makapaar

Early life and education Abdullah Makapaar was born in 1960 or 1961 in Delabayan, Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte, Philippines. He is of Maranao heritage

Makapaar also fought in the Soviet–Afghan War joining the mujahideen which fought against the Soviet Union and the Soviet-backed Afghan government in the early 1980s.

He was implicated to have been behind attacks in Lanao del Norte in 2008, after a negotiations for a deal that would create a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) was dropped. Makapaar has denied having a direct role on the attacks saying that non-MILF affiliated mujahideen were responsible and maintained that his forces would have retaliated have Philippine government forces attack MILF positions.

In November 2016, Makapaar was accused of being involved in illegal drugs and of setting up his own "government" in Lanao by President Rodrigo Duterte. A month later, he met up with Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers and Muslim Concerns Secretary Abdullah Mama-o to reject the accusations with Makapaar saying his activities were in fact supportive of the Duterte administration's war on drugs and that drug syndicates might have given him "wrong information" to frame him.

Political career Abdullah Makapaar as a member of the MILF campaigned for a "yes" vote in the 2019 Bangsamoro autonomy plebiscite which proposed the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) which would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Part of the plebiscite also called for the inclusion of select towns in Lanao del Norte, which Makapaar advocated for. While voters approved the creation of BARMM in the plebiscite, the joining of the towns in Lanao del Norte was unable to secure votes from the rest of the province to be able to join BARMM.

Abdullah Makapaar was nominated by the MILF in February 2019 to be part of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament which serves as an interim legislature for the then-newly formed BARMM. In January 2020, he publicly said that he wants to abandon conflict and has urged to push for peace moving forward.