diff --git a/src/plugins/select/alps/libalps/basil_mysql_routines.c b/src/plugins/select/alps/libalps/basil_mysql_routines.c
index 5b97bfe4a7670ea272520c9d29c07f439034c02d..976f6f8beb4c13d6d4bceb4151ed4cc4456c4298 100644
--- a/src/plugins/select/alps/libalps/basil_mysql_routines.c
+++ b/src/plugins/select/alps/libalps/basil_mysql_routines.c
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ MYSQL_STMT *prepare_stmt(MYSQL *handle, const char *query,
 
 	/* Verify the parameter count */
 	param_count = mysql_stmt_param_count(stmt);
-	if (nparams != nparams) {
+	if (param_count != nparams) {
 		error("expected %lu parameters for \"%s\" but got %lu",
 		      nparams, query, param_count);
 		goto prepare_failed;