diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6ea712b216..5661c7c1a4 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ codespell:
 	codespell -S bin,vendor,.git,go.sum,.cirrus.yml,"*.fish,RELEASE_NOTES.md,*.xz,*.gz,*.ps1,*.tar,swagger.yaml,*.tgz,bin2img,*ico,*.png,*.1,*.5,copyimg,*.orig,apidoc.go" -L secon,passt,bu,hastable,te,clos,ans,pullrequest,uint,iff,od,seeked,splitted,marge,erro,hist,ether,specif -w
 
 .PHONY: validate
-validate: lint .gitvalidation validate.completions man-page-check swagger-check tests-included tests-expect-exit pr-removes-fixed-skips
+validate: lint .gitvalidation validate.completions man-page-check swagger-check tests-expect-exit pr-removes-fixed-skips
 
 .PHONY: build-all-new-commits
 build-all-new-commits:
diff --git a/contrib/cirrus/runner.sh b/contrib/cirrus/runner.sh
index c948c18994..6f8b6ef4af 100755
--- a/contrib/cirrus/runner.sh
+++ b/contrib/cirrus/runner.sh
@@ -22,10 +22,6 @@ source $(dirname $0)/lib.sh
 showrun echo "starting"
 
 function _run_validate() {
-    # TODO: aarch64 images need python3-devel installed
-    # https://github.com/containers/automation_images/issues/159
-    showrun bigto ooe.sh dnf install -y python3-devel
-
     # git-validation tool fails if $EPOCH_TEST_COMMIT is empty
     # shellcheck disable=SC2154
     if [[ -n "$EPOCH_TEST_COMMIT" ]]; then
@@ -33,7 +29,8 @@ function _run_validate() {
     else
         warn "Skipping git-validation since \$EPOCH_TEST_COMMIT is empty"
     fi
-
+    # make sure PRs have tests
+    showrun make tests-included
 }
 
 function _run_unit() {