diff --git a/Modules/_ssl.c b/Modules/_ssl.c
index 43b236c2121..a0d34b34baa 100644
--- a/Modules/_ssl.c
+++ b/Modules/_ssl.c
@@ -4223,7 +4223,6 @@ _ssl__SSLContext_load_verify_locations_impl(PySSLContext *self,
         r = SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations(self->ctx, cafile_buf, capath_buf);
         PySSL_END_ALLOW_THREADS
         if (r != 1) {
-            ok = 0;
             if (errno != 0) {
                 ERR_clear_error();
                 PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_OSError);