diff --git a/shared/nm-utils/nm-dedup-multi.c b/shared/nm-utils/nm-dedup-multi.c
index ee310a7b1b..59b647edaf 100644
--- a/shared/nm-utils/nm-dedup-multi.c
+++ b/shared/nm-utils/nm-dedup-multi.c
@@ -877,7 +877,7 @@ nm_dedup_multi_index_obj_intern (NMDedupMultiIndex *self,
 	return obj_new;
 }
 
-const NMDedupMultiObj *
+void
 nm_dedup_multi_obj_unref (const NMDedupMultiObj *obj)
 {
 	if (obj) {
@@ -899,8 +899,6 @@ again:
 			obj->klass->obj_destroy ((NMDedupMultiObj *) obj);
 		}
 	}
-
-	return NULL;
 }
 
 gboolean
diff --git a/shared/nm-utils/nm-dedup-multi.h b/shared/nm-utils/nm-dedup-multi.h
index bebfe43d32..6286d6a4c3 100644
--- a/shared/nm-utils/nm-dedup-multi.h
+++ b/shared/nm-utils/nm-dedup-multi.h
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ nm_dedup_multi_obj_ref (const NMDedupMultiObj *obj)
 	return obj;
 }
 
-const NMDedupMultiObj *nm_dedup_multi_obj_unref       (const NMDedupMultiObj *obj);
+void                   nm_dedup_multi_obj_unref       (const NMDedupMultiObj *obj);
 const NMDedupMultiObj *nm_dedup_multi_obj_clone       (const NMDedupMultiObj *obj);
 gboolean               nm_dedup_multi_obj_needs_clone (const NMDedupMultiObj *obj);