Head of state ignoring first inhabitant (8)
I believe the answer is:
resident
'inhabitant' is the definition.
(resident is a kind of inhabitant)
'head of state ignoring first' is the wordplay.
'head of state' becomes 'president' (president is a type of head of state).
'ignoring first' means to remove the first letter.
'president' with its initial letter removed is 'RESIDENT'.
(Other definitions for resident that I've seen before include "Permanent dweller" , "Dwelling in a place for some time" , "Person living in" , "Hotel guest staying for a prolonged period" , "Liver" .)