diff --git a/fs/nilfs2/namei.c b/fs/nilfs2/namei.c
index e037e0c6e31a..d326bb1acb11 100644
--- a/fs/nilfs2/namei.c
+++ b/fs/nilfs2/namei.c
@@ -341,10 +341,16 @@ static int nilfs_rmdir(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry)
 
 	err = -ENOTEMPTY;
 	if (nilfs_empty_dir(inode)) {
+		if (unlikely(inode->i_nlink != 2))
+			nilfs_warn(dir->i_sb,
+				"inconsistent empty directory link count %u (ino=%llu)",
+				inode->i_nlink,
+				(unsigned long long)inode->i_ino);
+
 		err = nilfs_do_unlink(dir, dentry);
 		if (!err) {
 			inode->i_size = 0;
-			drop_nlink(inode);
+			clear_nlink(inode);
 			nilfs_mark_inode_dirty(inode);
 			drop_nlink(dir);
 			nilfs_mark_inode_dirty(dir);