diff --git a/Modules/_io/iobase.c b/Modules/_io/iobase.c
index bd6cd5f8deb..3732f46f4a5 100644
--- a/Modules/_io/iobase.c
+++ b/Modules/_io/iobase.c
@@ -577,7 +577,7 @@ static PyObject *
 iobase_readlines(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
 {
     Py_ssize_t hint = -1, length = 0;
-    PyObject *hintobj = Py_None, *result;
+    PyObject *result;
 
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|O&:readlines", &_PyIO_ConvertSsize_t, &hint)) {
         return NULL;