fix nil check bug

[colin-axner]

Description

saw this during review of #6471

closes: #XXXX

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Before we can merge this PR, please make sure that all the following items have been
checked off. If any of the checklist items are not applicable, please leave them but
write a little note why.

• Targeted PR against correct branch (see CONTRIBUTING.md)
• Linked to Github issue with discussion and accepted design OR link to spec that describes this work.
• Code follows the module structure standards.
• Wrote unit and integration tests
• Updated relevant documentation (docs/) or specification (x/<module>/spec/)
• Added relevant godoc comments.
• Added a relevant changelog entry to the Unreleased section in CHANGELOG.md
• Re-reviewed Files changed in the Github PR explorer
• Review Codecov Report in the comment section below once CI passes

[codecov]

Codecov Report

Merging #6895 into master will not change coverage.
The diff coverage is 100.00%.

@@           Coverage Diff           @@
##           master    #6895   +/-   ##
=======================================
  Coverage   61.65%   61.65%           
=======================================
  Files         511      511           
  Lines       31883    31883           
=======================================
  Hits        19657    19657           
  Misses      10672    10672           
  Partials     1554     1554           

[cwgoes]

ACK