diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index e5ca97df..d9311338 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: autogen.sh
         run: ./autogen.sh
       - name: configure ${{ matrix.configure.label }}
-        run: ./configure ${{ matrix.configure.opt }}
+        run: ./configure --enable-assertions ${{ matrix.configure.opt }}
       - uses: ammaraskar/gcc-problem-matcher@master
       - name: make
         run: make -j `nproc`
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a9025c71..c75335c1 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -843,7 +843,6 @@ else
     EXTRA_CFLAGS="-O2 -g -Wall $strict_compile"
   fi
 fi
-EXTRA_CFLAGS="$EXTRA_CFLAGS"
 
 MODSEC_EXTRA_CFLAGS="$pcre_study $pcre_match_limit $pcre_match_limit_recursion $pcre_jit $request_early $htaccess_config $lua_cache $debug_conf $debug_cache $debug_acmp $debug_mem $perf_meas $modsec_api $cpu_type $unique_id $log_filename $log_server $log_collection_delete_problem $log_dechunk $log_stopwatch $log_handler $log_server_context $collection_global_lock $large_stream_input $assertions"