African basil (Ocimum gratissimum L.) is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family, commonly called Tchiayo in the local Fongbe language. It is a traditional leafy vegetable that is widely consumed in Benin because of its high nutritional, aromatic, and medicinal properties (Kpètèhoto et al. 2017). In 2014, many of these plants were found to be wilting in the INRAB experimental field crop plots. In 2018, wilting of African basil crops was documented in farmers' fields in the districts of Sèmè-Podji, Ouinhi, Tori-Bossito, Ouidah, and Abomey-Calavi in Benin, with a 20 to 90% disease incidence in 173 African basil crop plots (7.2 m2) out of a total of 1,450 surveyed plots. In January 2025, wilted African basil plants were observed near bacterial wilt-infected tomato field crops in the Ouidah district. Stem sections of wilted African basil plants showed brown xylem with the release of whitish bacterial ooze in water. Plating the bacterial solution on SMSA medium (Engelbrecht 1994) revealed bacterial colonies morphologically typical of the Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC). Koch's postulates were applied by inoculating a single African basil accession growing in sterilized field soil with two separate isolates from the 2025 collection. Ten plants per isolate were inoculated by drenching the soil around the plant crown with 20 ml of bacterial suspension (108 CFU/ml). Susceptible tomato cultivar Akikonkoun and gboma cultivar Kpinman plants were also inoculated with the same bacterial suspensions. African basil, gboma, and tomato plants drenched with sterile distilled water served as the negative control. The inoculated plants were kept in a greenhouse at 32°C (day) and 28°C (night). The African basil plants started wilting 15 days after inoculation (DAI), with 80% of the plants wilted at 28 DAI, while the gboma and tomato plants started wilting at 7 and 5 DAI, respectively, and 90 and 100% of these plants had wilted at 28 DAI. The negative control plants remaine